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IMMiMtltltMillillllinillltllli: 


THE  LIBRARY 
OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


I%S(, 

^     ^'*- 

'    ^SB^hI^B^Bi^^^^^^ 

W^^M 

1- 

**'-■•■,> 

OUR    PARTY    AT   THE   SPHINX. 


MY  TRIP  TO  THE  ORIENT 


BY 
J.  C.  SIMMONS,   D.  D. 

OF    THE     PACIFIC     ANNUAL     CONFERENCE 


SAN  FRANCISCO 
thp:  whitaker  and  ray  company 

(incorporated) 
1902 


Copyright,  1902 
By  J.  C.  Simmons 


V5 

6U^ 


DeDication 


TO 
J.  R.  PEPPER    AND    WIFE 

OF  MEMPHIS,   TENNESSEE 

WHOSE   TENDf:R    KINDNESS    ADDED    SO    MUCH    TO   THE 

PLEASURE    AND   PROFIT   OF    MY    JOURNEYINGS 

IN   THE   ORIENT 

(Ci)i»  /?ruit  of  <©ur  (Crip 

IS    LOVINGLY    DEDICATED    BY 

THE  AUTHOR 


PREFACE. 

From  early  manhood  I  have  had  a  consuming  desire  to  visit 
classic  and  Bible  lands,  but  never  till  in  my  seventy-fifth  year 
did  the  opportunity  offer  itself;  and  from  the  beginning  of  my 
journey  I  have  had  in  mind  the  relation  of  what  I  saw  and 
heard  for  the  benefit  of  my  friends  and  the  reading  public. 
While  in  many  instances  I  have  used  the  guide-books  that  were 
available,  I  have  not  leant  upon  them,  except  where  it  was  neces- 
sary to  get  facts  and  figures.  I  have  tried  to  see,  and  to  think, 
and  to  write  for  myself.  With  Bible  in  hand,  I  have  accepted 
nothing,  whatever  tradition  might  say,  if  not  substantiated  by  it. 
I  do  not  claim  infallibility  for  my  book,  but  I  have  adhered 
strictly  to  facts,  where  it  was  possible  to  secure  these  facts.  I 
have  sought  for  information  from  the  best  sources  at  hand,  and 
from  notes  taken  on  the  ground  I  have  written  while  matters 

were  fresh  in  my  mind. 

J.  C.  Simmons. 

7 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

I'AfJE 

Leavim;  Home  — Mount  Shasta  —  In  Montana—  Irrigating  Sage- 
brush Land — Mount  Rainier  —  Destruction  of  Timber  —  In 
New  York  —  On  the  Sea 13 

CHAPTER   II. 

London  —  Bunhill  Field  Cemetery  —  St.  Helen's  Church  —  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral  —  First  Sunday  in  London  —  Sermons  by 
F.  B.  Myer  and  Canon  H.  S.  Holland  —  Hungry  Experience 
—  British  Museum  —  Rosetta  and  Moabite  Stones — Writing 
ON  Clay  —  Objects  from  Assyria  and  Nineveh  —  Mummies  — 
London  Tower — Ecumenical  Conference  —  Other  Things  in 
London  —  Westminster  Abbey  —  Parliament  House — St.  John's 
Square  Methodist  Church 23 

CHAPTER   III. 

Leaving  London  —  Paris  —  Rome  —  Names  of  the  Party  —  Column' 
of  Marcus  Aurelius  —  Pantheon  —  St.  Peter's  —  Pope's  Treas- 
ures —  Pope's  Carriages  —  Codex  Vatican  —  Picture  of  the 
Judgment,  by  Michael  Angelo  —  Making  Saints  —  Ostian  Way  — 
St.  Paul's  Church  —  Column  of  Trajan  —  The  Colosseu.m  —  Tri- 
umphal Arches — Ruins  of  Basilica  and  Temples  —  St.  John's 
Church  —  Scala  Sancta  —  Water-supply  —  Tasso    4»> 

CHAPTER    IV. 

Naples  —  Pompeii  —  Macaroni  —  Island  of   Capri  —  Blue  Groito  — 

Beggars  —  Patras  —  Milking  Goats <>4 

CHAPTER    V. 

Athens  —  Museum  —  Acropolis  —  Ruins  of  Temple  of  Bacchus  — 
Temple  of  ^Esculapius  —  Temple  of  Minerva  —  The  Parthenon 
—  Temple  OF  Mysteries  —  Wine-press  —  Temple  of  the  Winds  — 

King  George's  Palace  —  Corinth  —  St.  Paul 73 

9 


10  Contp:nts. 

CHAPTER    VI. 

PAGE 
CONSTANTINOPLK  —  I)0(i!S  —  PoLICEMEN  —  FiKE  DEPARTMENT  —  MdSEUM  — 

Mosque  of  St.  Sophia  —  Howling  Dervishes  —  The  Sultan  — 
Smyrna  —  Grave  of  Polvcarp  —  Beirut  —  Baalbek  —  Abana 
River  —  A  Syrian  Wedding 98 

CHAPTER   VII. 

Damascus  — Plowing  and  Thrashing  —  C^sarea  Philippi  —  Sea  of 
Galilee  — Bethsaida  —  Capernaum — Tiberias  —  Mount  of  Beati- 
tudes—  Cana  of  Galilee  —  Mount  Gilboa  —  Nazareth  —  Nain  — 
Shunem  —  Carmel  —  .Jezreel — Naboth's  Vineyard  —  Dothan,  .  .  .   136 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

Samaria  —  Herod's  Palace — Shechem  —  Samaritans  —  Gerizim  and 
Ebal  —  Jacob's  Well  —  Jerusalem  —  Mosque  of  Omar  —  Solo- 
mon's Stables  —  Mount  of  Olives  —  Wailing-place  of  the  Jews 

—  Subterranean  Quarries  — The  True  Calvary  and  Sepulcher 

—  Bethany  —  Gethsemane 152 

CHAPTER    IX. 

Jericho  —  Fountain  of  Elisha — Dead  Sea  —  Jordan  —  Solomon's 
Pools  — JoppA  — Cairo  — The  Citadel  — The  Nile  — Pyramids  — 
Sphinx  —  Memphis  —  Tombs  of  the  Kings  and  Sacred  Bulls  — 
Mohammedan  University  —  Heliopolis,  or  On  —  Alexandria  — 
Pompey's   Pillar — Naples  —  Museum  —Image  of  Diana  —  Home  165 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 


Our  Party  at  thk  Sphinx Front i»piece. 

Southern   Methodist  Delegates  to  the  Ecumuxical  Conference  at 

THE  Tomb  of  John  Wesley 41 

Theater  and  Temple  of  DiOiVYSos,  or  Bacchus,  at  Athens 75 

The  Acropolis,  Athens 79 

Mars'  Hill,  Athens 83 

Oorinth 91 

Exterior  View  of  the  Mosque  of  St.  Sophia,  Constantinople 101 

Interior  View  of  the  Mosque  of  St.  Sophia,  Constantinople lOo 

Another  Interior  View  of  the  Mosque  of  St.  Sophia,  Constantinople  109 

Turkish  Cemetery,  Constantinople 113 

Whirling  Dervishes,  Constantinople 117 

The  Sultan  Going  to  Prayers  on  Friday 121 

Tomb  of  Polycarp,  Smyrna,  Asia  Minor 125 

Sollie  and  the  Author  near  Shiloh 155 

11 


MY  TRIP  TO  THE  ORIENT. 


CHAPTER    I. 

Leaving  Home  —  Mount  Shasta  —  In  Montana  —  Irrigating  Sage-brish 
Land  —  Mount  Rainier  —  Destruction  of  Timber — In  New  York  — 
On  the  Sea. 

THE   BEGINNING   OP^  THE  TRIP. 

It  seems  like  a  long  time  since  I  was  notified  of  m}'-  selection 
by  the  Bishops  as  a  delegate  to  the  Ecumenical  Conference  of 
Methodism  in  London.  But  the  time  to  start  at  last  has  come, 
and  I  am  off  on  my  long  journey. 

On  the  evening  of  August  8,  1901,  at  seven  o'clock,  our  train 
started.  If  the  many  expressed  wishes  for  a  pleasant  journey 
and  a  safe  return  count  for  anything,  you  may  look  for  me  back 
in  due  time  to  tell  you  of  the  abiding  love  and  protecting  care  of 
a  loving  Heavenly  Father.  These  cordial  and  heartfelt  expres- 
sions, coming  from  so  many,  make  me  love  God  and  liis  people 
more  and  better  than  ever. 

Friends  met  me  at  Sacramento,  notwithstanding  the  lateness 
of  the  hour  (eleven,  p.  m.),  with  more  than  a  "God  bless  you," 
for  they  added  to  my  lunch-basket,  and  to  my  purse  as  well. 
Such  friends  deserve  to  be  held  in  everlasting  remembrance. 

As  often  as  I  have  crossed  the  continent,  I  have  never  gone  by 
the  Northern  Pacific,  so  I  concluded  to  try  that  route.  This 
necessitated  a  trip  entirely  through  the  state  of  Oregon  and  about 
one  half  of  Washington  to  Tacoma. 

The  first  morning  found  me  above  Redding.  As  we  went  u\> 
the  Sacramento  River,  the  stream  dwindled,  until  one  could  wade 
it  at  almost  any  point.  As  we  neared  Mount  Shasta,  the  growtli 
and  the  scenery  began  to  change.  Tall  pines,  in  tbi^r  excurrent 
growth,  shot  their  spire-shaped  tops  high  up  into  the  heavens, 
while  feathery  ferns  decorated  the  moist  earth  at  their  feet.     Old 


14  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

Shasta  sent  his  melting  snows,  by  underground  passages,  down 
until  they  reached  the  bluff  above  the  river,  when  they  leaped  out 
in  clear,  gushing  springs  that  would  almost  slake  the  thirst  by 
1  ooking  at  them. 

When  we  reached  Shasta  Springs,  a  brakeman  announced, 
"Four  minutes  at  the  spring."  The  hundreds  of  passengers 
rushed  out,  many  with  cups  in  hand,  and  such  crowding  and  dip- 
ping and  drinking  one  does  n't  often  see.  The  water  is  ice-cold, 
and  so  heavily  surcharged  with  carbonic-acid  gas,  that  it  flies, 
sparkling,  into  the  face,  and  bites  the  tongue  with  the  most 
pleasureable  sensation.  My  !  but  it  was  refreshing  and  delight- 
ful. I  felt  that  it  would  have  been  far  more  satisfactory  to  have 
stayed  at  the  spring  four  hours  instead  of  four  minutes.  Then 
one  could  have  prolonged  the  pleasure  of  drinking,  instead  of 
gulping  down  a  whole  pint,  as  some  of  us  did,  at  a  draft.  For 
several  minutes  after  returning  to  the  car  my  stomach  imitated 
the  spring  in  sending  up  volumes  of  gas. 

But  old  Shasta  —  the  pride  and  glory  of  California  —  who  can 
describe?  He  does  not  seem  to  lift  his  head  over  fourteen  thou- 
sand feet,  but  in  massive  grandeur  he  stands  sovereign  of  the  vast 
range  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  that  stretch  in  towering  splendor 
for  a  thousand  miles,  like  an  empire,  at  his  feet.  He  needs  no 
scepter,  no  crown,  to  proclaim  him  monarch  of  the  range.  He 
was  born  a  king,  and  there  is  none  to  dispute  his  claim  to  the 
royal  line.  On  his  broad  bosom  have  beat  the  battle-storms  of  a 
thousand  years  and  left  no  scar,  neither  have  they  shaken  one 
pillar  of  his  throne.  So  massive  is  his  form,  that  the  tempest's 
battle-shock  on  one  side  is  not  felt  on  the  other.  The  very  artil- 
lery of  heaven,  that  works  such  havoc  on  lesser  things,  may  hurl 
their  heaviest  shots,  unfelt,  on  his  bosom  or  his  brow.  Winter 
may  pile  the  snows  of  a  thousand  storms  on  his  head,  and  they 
will  lie  as  lightly  as  a  veil  on  the  brow  of  a  bride.  Clouds,  riding 
on  the  wings  of  wind,  may  stride  his  giant  sides,  but  he  will  stand 
like  a  rock  in  the  sea,  and  when  the  clouds  clear  away  he  looks 
as  calm  and  placid  as  a  sleeping  giant. 

One  forms  the  grandest  conception  of  the  creative  power  of  God 
when  standing,  like  a  speck,  under  the  shadow  of  such  a  moun- 
tain. Mountains  play  an  important  part  in  both  the  Old  and 
the  New  Testament  history.  They  were  God's  favorite  meeting- 
places  with  men. 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  15 


IN   MONTANA. 


I  formed  a  number  of  very  pleasant  acquaintances  on  the  train. 
Some  of  them  gave  me  a  cordial  invitation  to  visit  them  should 
I  ever  come  to  Portland,  It  is  better  to  have  friends  than  it  is  to 
have  money.  I  called  on  some  during  the  six  hours  I  had  to  lay 
over  in  Portland.  Beside  the  delights  of  association,  they  gave 
me  a  good  dinner  and  replenished  my  basket  with  fruits  and  other 
things. 

I  was  perfectly  delighted  with  the  cars  and  the  service  of  the 
Northern  Pacific  railway.  The  tourist-car  was  almost  like  a 
Pullman,  except  the  seats  are  covered  with  nice  leather  instead  of 
plush.  The  beds  were  about  as  good,  and  everything  was  done 
up  in  style. 

This  route,  striking  east  from  Spokane,  in  Washington,  sweeps 
through  Idaho,  Montana,  North  Dakota,  and  Minnesota  to  St.  Paul. 
It  passes  over  a  vast  area  of  desert  land,  —  land  that  seems  unfit 
for  anything,  much  of  it  mountainous,  rocky,  and  barren.  But 
it  is  wonderful  what  water  will  do  for  the  desert. 

There  are  two  counties  in  Washington,  of  which  Pasco  is  the 
center,  that,  a  few  years  ago,  were  covered  with  sage-brush.  But 
enterprising  men  planned  an  irrigation  system,  and  brought  in 
water  that  had  been  running  to  waste  for  years,  and  now  I  am 
told  that  these  two  counties  produce  one  fiftieth  of  the  wheat 
grown  in  the  United  States. 

While  I  write  this,  in  eastern  Montana  we  are  passing  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  acres  of  such  looking  sage-brush  land,  and  we  are 
running  down  a  river  with  water  enough  in  it  to  supply  the  greater 
portion  of  it.  Soon  after  turning  east  we  passed  in  sight  of 
Mount  Rainier.  It  loomed  up  in  solitary  grandeur  as  one  of  the 
great  ones  of  the  earth.  It  was  clothed  in  snow,  seemingly,  to  its 
base.  The  lower  strata  of  air  was  so  filled  with  smoke  as  to 
obscure  not  only  its  base,  but  all  the  surrounding  mountains;  not 
one  could  be  seen.  And  yet,  there  it  stood  in  solitary  grandeur, 
wrapped  in  its  spotless  robe  of  snow,  as  if  chilled  by  its  own 
isolation.  The  setting  sun  was  at  our  back,  flaming  on  its  bleak 
side,  making  it  glow  as  with  a  warmth  it  could  not  feel.  It  bathed 
it  with  light  as  with  a  garment.  It  softened  its  asperities,  and 
gave  to  it  additional  charms.     It  was  wonderful  how  long  the 


16  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

sunlight  hung  upon  its  summit  and  dallied  with  its  brow.  Long 
after  it  had  left  the  vale  and  mountains  below  to  shadows  and 
darkness,  old  Rainier  stood  out  in  the  gloom  like  a  vast  pile  of 
phosphorus,  as  if  it  would  light  the  world  when  the  sun  had  gone 
down.  All  the  ten  minutes  we  were  at  Tacoma  we  gazed  upon 
its  glowing  form,  and  when  our  train  bore  us  away,  plunging 
into  the  night,  this  mighty  mountain  still  stood,  in  ghostly  gran- 
deur, glowing  against  the  evening  sky.     It  is  14,526  feet  high. 

Sunday  found  us  in  Idaho,  but  as  that  state  is  very  narrow 
where  we  cross  it,  it  was  not  long  until  we  were  in  Montana. 

All  day  Sunday  and  all  day  Monday  we  spent  in  crossing  this 
great  state.  Our  car  was  full,  but  it  was  not  a  great  while  until 
the  majority  of  us  knew  each  other,  and  we  enjoyed  ourselves  all 
the  more  for  it. 

We  had  no  service  in  the  car,  although  there  were  a  number  of 
Epworth  Leaguers  on  the  train.  I  suggested  it  to  one  or  two, 
and  they  thought  it  a  good  idea.  But  I  would  not  press  the 
matter,  for  fear  they  would  think  I  was  anxious  to  preach.  It  is 
true,  there  was  another  preacher  on  board,  but  he  was  a  young 
man  just  out  of  college.  By  the  way,  he  was  at  Yosemite  last 
Sunday,  and  told  me  that  he  put  in  a  full  day  sightseeing, — 
■even  climbed  to  the  top  of  Yosemite  Falls.  How  men  do  borrow 
from  God  to  save  time!  No  doubt  but  that  we  are  tested  by  just 
such  trials  as  this;  and  how  easy  it  is  for  us  to  persuade  ourselves 
that  in  communing  with  nature  we  are  serving  God,  when  God 
knows  we  are  doing  it  alone  to  gratify  our  own  carnal  desires. 

It  is  a  mighty  nice  thing  to  be  an  every-day,  consistent  Chris- 
tian. I  have  talked  with  two  men  on  the  train  about  their  re- 
ligious life,  and  both  of  them  were  stumbling  over  the  inconsis- 
tent lives  of  professing  Christians.  I  tried  to  show  them  that  they 
were  responsible  for  their  own  conduct,  and  not  for  the  faults  of 
others. 

I  put  in  some  of  the  Sabbath  in  reading  the  entire  Epistle  to 
the  Romans,  and  in  meditating  over  its  wonderful  revelations  and 
arguments.  To  my  mind,  it  is  the  greatest  of  all  of  Paul's  writings, 
if  not  the  greatest  single  book  in  the  Bible.  He  lays  deep  and 
broad  his  foundations,  and  then  lays  up  every  stone  with  care 
and  precision,  and  when  the  whole  is  done,  he  hangs  up,  within 
its  halls,  the  pictures  of  many  of  his  friends,  suffering  Tirtius,  his 
amanuensis,  to  put  on  the  last  embellishing  touch. 


My  Tkii>  to  the  Orient.  17 


FARTHER   EAST. 

As  we  swept  down  the  Yellowstone  River,  I  saw  a  turtle  sunning 
himself  upon  a  rock.  It  has  been  many  a  long  day  since  I  saw 
one,  but  I  knew  him  as  soon  as  I  laid  eyes  on  him.  It  is 
hard  to  forget  our  boyhood  friends. 

I  realize  that  I  am  in  the  land  of  cyclones,  for  I  see  the  cyclone- 
holes,  or  dugouts,  as  I  pass.  When  they  see  a  storm  arising, 
like  the  squirrels  they  go  for  tlieir  holes.     Who  can  blame  them? 

When  we  reached  Missoula,  Montana,  I  stepped  out  on  the 
platform.  I  saw  a  clerical-looking  gentleman  whose  face  looked 
familiar,  but  when  I  spoke  to  him  I  saw  my  mistake.  He  asked 
ni}^  name.  I  told  him  "  Simmons."  "  What!  is  this  J.  C.  Simmons 
of  the  South  Church,  in  California?"  I  told  him  I  was.  He  said 
he  never  saw  me  before,  but  had  seen  my  picture  in  the  California 
Advocate,  and  had  heard  of  me  for  years,  and  wanted  to  see  me. 
He  said  his  name  was  Rawlins.  Their  Conference  was  then  in 
session  in  that  place.  Bishop  Fowler  presiding.  He  said  the 
Bishop  preached  one  of  his  grandest  sermons  that  morning.  He 
spoke  of  Bishop  Duncan,  and  of  our  Conference  that  was  soon  to 
convene. 

Our  train  ran  for  hours  on  the  borders  of  a  lake  called  Pend 
d'Oreille.  It  is  a  French  name,  and  means  "  lobe  of  the  ear." 
We  ran  up  Clark's  Fork  till  late  in  the  day.  This  indicated  that 
we  were  still  on  the  west  side  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  as  the 
streams  flow  toward  the  Pacific.  As  we  climb  the  Rockies,  the 
flora  changes.  Little  pines  predominate.  But  it  is  wonderful 
how  many  of  these  pines  have  been  killed  by  forest  fires.  Mil- 
lions of  them  stand  on  the  mountain  sides,  dead,  and  I  could  see 
no  new  shoots  coming  up  to  take  their  places. 

When  speaking  of  Shasta  I  did  intend  to  tell  of  the  sad  destruc- 
tion of  all  the  timber  round  about  the  mountain,  —  mills,  mills, 
everywhere,  ripping  and  sawing  into  lumber  every  tree  large 
enough.  The  stumps  stand  like  gravestones  in  this  cemetery  of 
slain  forests.  Have  the  trees  no  friends?  Will  no  hand  arrest 
the  ringing,  swinging  ax  in  its  ruthless  work?  When  too  late, 
California  will  wake  to  her  folly. 

I  met  a  gentleman  between  St.  Paul  and  Chicago,  who  told  me 
that  they  had  stripped  the  forests  of  Minnesota  and  Wisconsin, 


18  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

that  were  thought  to  be  inexhaustible,  of  nearly  all  the  good  tim- 
ber. He  gave  a  large  order  to  a  lumberman  not  long  since,  and 
when  it  was  filled  he  complained  of  the  inferior  quality  of  the 
lumber,  when,  to  his  astonishment,  he  was  told  that  the  supply 
of  good  lumber  was  exhausted. 

I  saw  carload  after  carload  of  logs  on  the  way  to  the  mills  to  be 
sawed  into  lumber,  that  were  only  a  little  larger  than  telegraph 
poles. 

Tuesday  night  we  had  on  board  of  our  train  United  States 
Senator  Carter  of  Montana,  who  is  credited  with  having  made  the 
longest  speech  ever  made  in  the  United  States,  —  thirteen  hours 
and  twenty  minutes.  It  was  no  mere  windy  talk  against  time, 
but  it  was  a  giant  effort  against  a  money-stealing  harbor  appro- 
priation bill  for  fifty  million  dollars.  He  looked  up  the  whole 
thing,  posting  himself  on  the  depth  and  capacity  of  all  the  harbors 
for  which  appropriations  were  sought,  and  when  he  charged  down 
on  the  thieving  cohorts,  he  walked  the  deck  of  his  ship  like 
Dewey  at  Manila,  without  an  enemy  in  sight. 

Is  n't  it  a  humiliating  fact  that  there  are  men  wearing  the  toga 
of  the  United  States  who  ought  to  be  wearing  the  stripes  of  the 
state  prison,  among  other  thieves? 

Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  are  two  great  inland  cities,  only 
eleven  miles  apart.     They  both  seem  to  be  in  a  thriving  condition. 

We  reached  Chicago  at  seven,  a.  m.,  Wednesday,  and  left  for 
New  York  at  ten;  so  we  saw  nothing  of  this  great  city. 

We  had  a  little  thunder-shower  the  evening  before  reaching 
Chicago.  I  could  see  the  lightning  playing  in  the  cloud,  although 
it  was  either  too  distant  or  the  cars  made  too  much  noise  for  us 
to  hear  the  thunder. 

As  we  passed  through  portions  of  Indiana,  we  saw  a  great  num- 
ber of  towers  or  derricks  (I  am  not  posted  on  oil  nomenclature) 
for  boring  for  oil.  They  were  all  new,  so  the  oil  fever  must  be  of 
recent  date  in  these  parts.  I  counted  more  than  a  dozen  in  sight 
at  one  time  from  the  car  window,  and  once  or  twice  I  caught  the 
scent  of  oil,  —  so  somebody  has  struck  it. 

When  we  got  over  into  Pennsylvania  we  had  a  fine  rain.  And 
now,  as  I  write,  we  are  rapidly  nearing  New  York,  the  end  of  my 
journey  by  land.  We  shall  see  what  we  shall  see  when  we  get  to 
sea. 


My  Tkii'  to  thp:  Orient.  T.) 


ON   THE    SEA. 


1  have  but  little  to  say  of  New  York,  for  I  was  there  but  a  little 
over  a  day,  and  much  of  the  time  was  taken  up  with  business.  I 
called  at  the  Christian  Advocate  office.  Dr.  Buckley,  to  my  re- 
gret, was  not  in,  but  his  assistant.  Brother  Herben,  met  me  with 
a  cordiality  that  was  most  gratifying.  He  said  he  knew  me  by 
reputation,  and  was  anxious  to  meet  me.  He  furnished  me  with 
all  the  late  Southern  papers,  and  I  had  a  feast  looking  through 
them. 

In  the  afternoon  I  went  to  Central  Park,  and  came  back  on  an 
automobile.  It  was  run  by  electricity,  and  I  had  a  most  delight- 
ful ride.  There  is  a  great  number  of  automobiles  in  the  city.  I 
counted  thirteen  in  the  space  of  a  few  blocks.  Some  were  very 
fine;  others  struck  me  as  clumsy.  I  visited  General  Grant's  tomb. 
It  is  a  much  plainer  structure  than  I  expected  to  see.  It  is,  how- 
ever, massive  and  beautiful.  It  is  built  square,  with  huge  columns 
on  all  its  sides;  the  whole  is  surmounted  with  a  dome.  The 
whole  structure  is  150  feet  high,  and  perhaps  100  feet  square.  It 
is  made  of  white  granite,  and  is  entered  on  one  side.  In  the  cen- 
ter is  a  circular  opening,  perhaps  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  in  diameter, 
and  on  the  floor  beneath  rest  two  sarcophagi,  —  one  containing 
the  remains  of  General  Grant,  the  other  those  of  his  wife.  The 
location  is  a  most  picturesque  one.  It  is  on  a  hill  overlooking 
the  Hudson  River. 

In  the  evening  I  was  greatly  pleased  at  meeting  a  nephew  from 
Tuscaloosa,  Alabama. 

On  Saturday  morning,  at  nine  o'clock,  I  went  on  board  the 
steamer  Menominee,  which  was  to  be  my  home  for  ten  or  twelve 
days.  It  is  an  immense  ship  of  ten  thousand  tons,  and  is,  by  long 
odds,  the  steadiest  ship  I  was  ever  on.  The  captain  said  it  was 
the  steadiest  ship  on  the  Atlantic.  It  is  true,  we  have  had  a  re- 
markably calm  time,  but  there  has  not  been  a  single  case  of  sea- 
sickness among  the  83  passengers,  and  this  is  the  third  day.  We 
had  hardly  cast  off  our  lines,  before  a  gentleman  came  up  to  me 
and  said,  "  Did  I  not  hear  you  give  a  speech  of  welcome  to  the 
Epworth  League  Convention  in  San  Francisco?"  He  said  he  was 
on  the  platform,  and  thought  I  was  the  man.  It  was  the  Rev. 
C.  M.  Giffin,  D.  D.,  of  Scranton,  Pennsylvania,  a  delegate  to  the 


20  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

Ecumenical  Conference.  I  was  truly  glad  to  have  company.  I 
soon  found  another  delegate  from  Minnesota,  and  a  lay  delegate 
from  Pennsylvania.     This  made  it  very  pleasant  for  me. 

The  large  body  of  our  passengers  are  English,  but,  take  them 
all  in  all,  they  are  as  pleasant  a  lot  of  passengers  as  one  will  see 
anywhere.  Sunday  morning  we  had  Episcopal  service,  conducted 
by  the  captain.  He  came  to  me  in  the  afternoon  and  apologized 
for  not  calling  upon  me.  He  said  they  were  required  to  conduct 
the  Episcopal  service  every  Sabbath  morning,  but  that  if  either 
of  the  ministers  desired  to  preach  in  the  evening,  he  would  be 
very  glad  to  have  him  do  so.  But  none  of  us  had  on  "our  sea- 
legs,"  and  we  were  almost  afraid  to  undertake  it.  It  rained  all 
Sunday  afternoon.  In  the  evening  the  young  people  assembled 
in  the  parlor  and  spent  several  hours  in  singing.  We  found  that 
we  had  several  fine  performers  on  the  piano,  and  some  excellent 
singers. 

Monday  dawned  bright  and  beautiful.  We  found,  by  consult- 
ing the  "log,"  that  we  were  running  over  three  hundred  miles  a 
day. 

The  young  people  have  several  games  on  board,  —  one  called 
"shuflfleboard,"  where  little  round  boards  six  inches  in  diameter 
are  shot  across  the  deck  by  punching  them  with  cues.  They  en- 
joy it,  and  I  enjoy  looking  at  them. 

I  am  very  fortunate  in  my  location  at  the  table.  Dr.  Giffin, 
Brother  Shepherd,  the  lay  delegate,  a  Scotch  ex-member  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  another  very  intelligent,  well-traveled  Scotchman,  and 
I  sit  next  the  captain  of  the  ship. 

We  discuss  matters  while  eating,  and  hardly  ever  leave  the 
table  for  from  a  half  an  hour  to  an  hour  after  we  are  through  eat- 
ing. We  talk  navigation,  science,  politics,  religion,  etc.,  often  in- 
terspersing our  talks  with  jokes  and  anecdotes.  My  California 
experiences  always  secure  me  a  respectful  and  interested  hear- 
ing. 

INCIDENTS    OF  THE   VOYAGE. 

The  monotony  of  ocean  travel  can  be  ajtpreciated  only  by  one 
shut  up  in  a  ship  with  not  a  speck  of  land,  or  bird,  or  fish,  or  ship 
visible  for  days.  I  was  disappointed  in  the  fact  that  we  saw  so 
few  ships,  and  as  to  animal  life,  we  saw  a  few  porpoises,  a  few 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  21 

flying-fish,  and  now  and  then  a  stormy  petrel,  — that  was  all. 
But  the  passengers  made  it  lively  on  board.  We  had  several 
very  fine  musicians  with  us,  and  day  and  night  the  piano  was 
going.  We  had  quartets,  solos,  and  choruses,  and  much  of  the 
singing  and  instrumental  music  was  of  a  high  order. 

One  night  the  captain  had  a  nice  cake  baked, —  placed  in  it  a 
ring,  a  thimble,  and  a  penny,  —  and  we  had,  I  suppose,  a  regular 
"cake-walk."  As  I  never  saw  one  before,  I  am  not  a  judge  of  its 
regularity.     It  was  very  funny,  and  afforded  much  amusement. 

On  Sunday  everything  took  on  a  Sunday  air.  All  sports  and 
games  were  avoided.  At  10:30,  the  captain,  as  on  the  previous 
Sabbath,  read  the  Episcopal  service,  and  the  most  respectful  and 
reverent  attention  was  observed  by  all.  In  the  evening  I  was  se- 
lected to  preach.  Drs.  Giffin  and  Stafford  assisted  in  the  prelimi- 
nary service.  The  young  people  led  in  the  service  of  song.  One  of 
the  young  men,  who  was  a  very  fine  musician,  composed  an  an- 
them on  the  Lord's  Prayer,  especially  for  the  occasion.  It  was 
sung  with  spirit,  and  I  thought  it  very  beautiful.  I  have  the 
promise  of  a  copy. 

The  ship  was  rolling  as  much  as  at  any  time  during  the  voyage, 
and  I  maneuvered  around  considerably  during  the  delivery  of  my 
sermon.  All  understood  why  I  staggered  around  so,  and  gave  me 
the  most  marked  attention.  I  tried  to  drop  some  seed  for  my 
Master,  and  did  not  preach  merely  to  entertain  the  company  or 
pass  away  the  time.  I  felt  that  I  had  a  message,  and  I  delivered 
it  in  the  name  of  my  Lord. 

I  told  them  that  the  evening  before  they  had  gotten  up  their 
entertainment  jvist  for  enjoyment,  but  now  we  had  met  for  a  dif- 
ferent purpose,  —  met  to  talk  about  our  eternal  interests.  I  think 
the  service  was  not  without  profit.  A  number  came  to  me  after- 
ward, not  only  to  thank  me  for  the  sermon,  but  to  tell  me  how 
much  good  it  had  done  them. 

Monday  night  the  young  people  got  up  a  "breach  of  promise" 
case,  and  organizing  a  court,  they  took  up  the  whole  evening  in 
trying  it.  The  jury  was  composed  of  both  men  and  women,  and 
the  court  and  lawyers,  in  addressing,  had  to  abandon  the  stereo- 
typed form  of  "gentlemen  of  the  jury,"  and  had  to  say  "ladies 
and  gentlemen  of  the  jury."  The  verdict  was  for  the  plaintiff, 
giving  her  the  sum  of  "three  cents,  annually,  for  ninety-nine 
years,  and  one  day  over." 


22  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

The  last  evening  on  board  was  spent  in  auctioning  off  some 
sketches  made  on  the  voyage,  —  for  we  had  two  very  fine  artists 
on  board,  who  expect  to  make  their  fortunes  on  the  Continent  by 
selling  their  pictures,  —  and  in  recitations,  anecdotes,  and  song. 
I  told  them  my  celebrated  Yosemite  bear  story,  whose  relation  is 
so  blood-curdling,  and  whose  denouement  is  so  gratifying.  The 
money  realized  from  the  sale  of  the  pictures  is  to  go  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  widows  and  orphans  of  sailors.  It  amounted  to  "three 
pounds  one  and  sixpence,"  —  we  use  English  money  over  here. 

From  the  time  we  entered  the  channel  to  landing  at  the  dock, 
we  saw  no  more  of  the  captain.  Grave  responsibilities  rested  on 
him,  and  he  was  upon  the  bridge  day  and  night,  even  taking  his 
meals  there. 

What  a  lesson  we  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ  could  learn  from 
this.  We  have  a  responsibility  graver  than  his  committed  to  our 
hands.  The  very  lives,  not  for  time,  but  for  eternity,  of  our  people 
are  in  our  keeping,  and  there  is  danger  of  wreck,  even  at  the  en- 
trance of  the  harbor.  We  reached  our  dock  in  a  few  hours  over 
eleven  days. 

On  landing  at  London,  Dr.  Giffin,  who  had  visited  it  a  number 
of  times  before,  and  was  familiar  with  the  city,  was  of  great  as- 
sistance to  me.  We  came  to  the  Hotel  Russell,  a  very  nice  place, 
where  we  will  remain  until  the  opening  of  the  Conference,  when 
homes  will  be  assigned  us. 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  23 


CHAPTER   II. 

London — Bunhill  Field  Cemetery — St.  Helen's  Church  —  St.  Pail's 
Cathedral  —  First  Sunday  in  London —  Sermons  by  F.  B.  Mver 
AND  Canon  H.  S.  Holland  —  Hungry  Experience  —  British  Museum 
—  Rosetta  and  Moabite  Stones  —  Writing  on  Clay  —  Objects  from 
Assyria  and  Nineveh  —  Mummies  —  London  Tower  —  Ecumenical 
Conference  —  Other  Things  in  London  —  Westminster  Abbey  —  Par- 
liament House  —  St.  John's  Square  Methodist  Church. 

LONDON. 

O.NE  DAY  has  passed,  —  a  day  so  crowded  with  new  sights  of  the 
old,  that  I  hardly  know  what  to  say  or  how  to  say  it. 

Our  ship  landed  us  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames  River,  far  be- 
low the  city,  and  we  took  a  train  with  cars  with  compartments, 
and  doors  along  the  side.  The  seats  extended  the  full  width  of 
the  car,  one  facing  the  other,  so  that,  if  the  section  were  full,  half 
the  passengers  would  have  to  ride  backwards. 

As  we  entered  the  city  we  came  to  long  rows  of  houses  l)uilt 
just  alike,  made  of  brick,  and  covered  either  with  tile  or  slate. 
Look  which  way  you  will,  and  you  never  see  a  straight  street.  As 
it  is  in  the  suburbs,  so  is  it  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  only  more  so. 
And  wherever  a  bend  in  the  street  comes,  there  usually  comes 
another  name  for  it.  Sometimes  you  come  to  a  point  where  five 
or  six  streets  come  together.  This  is  called  a  "circus."  I  had  a 
letter  of  introduction  to  a  firm  in  Ludgate  Circus.  Then  many 
of  these  fractions  of  streets  are  called  roads,  as  City  Road.  I  sup- 
pose they  have  never  been  changed  since  they  were  accidentally 
formed  and  named  by  the  Romans  in  the  days  of  the  CjBsars. 
They  were  roads  then  running  through  the  country,  or  through 
the  village.  A  tree  was  pointed  out  to  me,  right  in  the  heart  of 
the  city,  that  some  old  lord  had  incorporated  in  the  deed  that  it 
is  never  to  be  removed  so  long  as  it  lives.  Were  a  house  built 
where  it  stands,  it  would  rent  for  over  one  thousand  dollars  a 
year,  and  yet,  there  it  stands  and  grows,  and  from  the  looks  of  it, 
it  will  outlive  many  a  generation  yet.     Were  it  in  San  Francisco 


24  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

or  New  York,  I  think  its  days  would  soon  be  numbered,  either  by 
some  process  of  law  or  some  act  of  lawlessness. 

The  streets  are  narrow,  as  well  as  crooked;  and  how  the  busi- 
ness of  so  great  a  city  is  conducted  is  a  marvel.  These  streets 
are  wonderfully  smooth.  They  seem  to  be  made  of  a  combination 
of  cement  and  asphaltum. 

They  have  few  street-cars,  but  instead  have  two-story  buses  — 
multiplied  thousands  of  them.  They  drive  up  to  the  sidewalk, 
and  you  enter,  go  into  the  inside,  or  by  a  winding  stair  climb  to 
the  top,  which  will  hold  perhaps  twenty  or  twenty-five  persons. 
You  can  form  an  idea  of  the  smoothness  of  the  streets  when  I  tell 
you  that  yesterday  a  very  large  and  fleshy  lady,  weighing  much 
more  than  two  hundred,  if  I  am  a  good  judge  of  size  and  weight, 
cUmbed  up  to  the  top,  just  ahead  of  me,  and  comfortably  filled  a 
seat  intended  for  two.  From  the  top  of  the  bus  you  have  a  fine 
point  of  observation,— can  see  all  the  houses,  and  the  thousands 
of  vehicles  that  fill  the  streets.  All  the  buses,  carriages,  wagons, 
etc.,  have  to  keep  to  the  left,  instead  of  the  right,  as  with  us. 

I  was  under  the  shadow  of  the  celebrated  Bow  Church,  but  did 
not  have  time  to  go  in  it.  I  heard  its  chime  of  bells.  It  is  said 
that  every  child  born  within  sound  of  its  bells  is  a  true  Cockney. 
They  are  born  in  London  proper;  none  others. 

Among  the  first  things  I  did  was  to  report  my  arrival  at  City 
Road  Chapel,  to  John  Bond,  secretary.  I  was  most  cordially  re- 
ceived, and  given  all  necessary  information.  While  in  that  part 
of  the  city,  we  stepped  across  the  street  and  into  the  cemetery, 
where  lie  the  remains  of  Susannah  Wesley,  the  mother  of  John 
and  Charles  Wesley.  I  reverently  took  off  my  hat  as  I  stood 
above  the  dust  of  this  woman,  greater  than  if  she  were  the  mother 
of  kings  and  emperors;  for  it  was  her  methodical  hand  and  prac- 
tical mind  that  trained  the  greatest  reformer  and  leader  in  ecclesi- 
astical history,  —  a  man,  the  influence  of  whose  teachings  has  ex- 
posed errors  in  theology  hoary  with  age,  intrenched  within  what 
was  regarded  as  impenetrable  walls  and  defended  by  the  combined 
churches  of  the  world,  —  a  man,  the  influence  of  whose  teachings 
has  leavened  all  doctrines  of  Christendom.  Not  only  this,  but 
she  was  the  mother  of  a  son  who  took  the  doctrines  taught  by 
his  illustrious  brother  and  wove  them  into  poetry  and  song,  that 
they  might  be  fixed  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  masses  for- 
ever. 


My  Trip  to  the  Oriknt.  25 

A  plain,  molclering,  crumbling  slab  of  white  marble,  not  distin- 
guished from  the  hundreds  that  stand  about  it,  marks  the  grave 
in  which  she  lies.  As  I  stood  and  deciphered  the  moss-covered 
inscription  that  tells  who  and  what  she  was,  I  felt  that  here  in 
this  silent  city  of  the  dead  was  not  the  place  to  look  for  her  memo- 
rial, or  to  read  of  her  virtues  and  her  fame,  but  every  one  of  the 
holy  lives  of  the  multiplied  millions  of  Methodists  of  the  world 
turned  a  ray  of  light  on  her  tomb  and  made  it  glow  with  un- 
dimmed  splendor.  This  is  one  of  the  most  wonderful  cemeteries 
in  London.  During  the  great  London  plague,  that  marks  one  of 
the  most  appalling  chapters  in  the  history  of  any  city,  one  hun- 
dred thousand  victims  of  that  plague  were  dumped  into  this  Cen- 
tral graveyard.  Above  these  masses  of  the  dead,  the  present 
cemetery  stands. 

Here  rest  the  remains  of  Daniel  De  Foe,  the  author  of  that  book 
of  books  for  boys,  "  Robinson  Crusoe."  Who  has  not  read  it,  and 
been  charmed  by  the  graphic  descriptions  of  the  lonely  ship- 
wrecked sailor -and  his  man  Friday?  His  tomb  tells  us  he  was 
born  in  1661  and  that  he  died  in  1731. 

In  this  cemetery  lie  the  remains  of  the  great  hymn-writer, 
Isaac  Watts.  How  his  hymns  for  children  have  helped  the  young 
to  grasp  the  thoughts  of  God,  and  give  expression  to  feelings  of 
devotion  !  As  I  laid  my  hand  on  the  stone  that  covers  his  lifeless 
clay,  I  felt  that  his  hymns  would  long  outlast  the  marble  that 
loving  hands  had  placed  above  him. 

Not  far  from  Mrs.  Wesley's  grave  is  that  of  John  Bunyan,  au- 
thor of  "Pilgrims'  Progress."  He  died  in  his  sixtieth  3'ear.  His 
tomb  is  somewhat  peculiar.  It  is  of  marble;  on  the  top  is  chiseled 
a  prone  figure  to  represent  the  dreamer;  on  one  side,  in  bas-relief, 
is  the  pilgrim,  with  his  burden  on  his  back,  at  the  open  grave, 
where  he  lost  his  burden  forever.  On  the  other  side  we  find  him 
at  the  cross. 

Here,  also,  is  the  grave  of  Richard  Cromwell,  a  son  of  Oliver 
Cromwell,  the  latter  one  of  the  most  noted  men  in  English  his- 
tory. I  had  pointed  out  to  me  a  small  park,  where  tradition 
tells  that  the  body  of  Oliver  Cromwell  is  buried;  though  this  is 
disputed,  as  almost  all  traditions  are. 

I  could  not  but  copy  the  unique  inscription  plainly  chiseled  on 
an  old  tomb.     On  one  side  is  the  following:  — 


20  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

"Here  lyes  Dame  Mary  Page,  relict  of  Sir  Gregory  Page,  Bar't. 
She  departed  this  life  March  11,  1738,  in  the  56th  year  of  her 
age." 

On  the  opposite  side  is  this:  — 

"In  67  months  she  was  tap't  66  times.  Had  taken  away  240 
gallons  of  water  without  ever  repining  at  her  case,  or  even  fear- 
ing the  opperation." 

She  had  a  watery  life,  if  she  did  n't  have  a  watery  grave. 

If  I  should  have  the  time  to  go  through  this  cemetery  again,  I 
may  find  other  things  to  write  about. 

I  went  into  Crosby  Hall,  built  in  the  time  of  Richard  III,  in 
1466.  Of  course,  it  is  not  as  it  was  when  first  built.  It  stands 
upon  the  same  ground,  and  a  few  fragments  of  the  old  hall  have 
been  worked  into  the  modernized  structure. 

Rev.  Dr.  C.  M.  Giflfin  of  Scranton,  Pennsylvania,  who  crossed 
the  ocean  with  me,  has  been  a  great  help  to  me  in  more  ways 
than  I  can  tell.  He  is  familiar  with  London  and  London  ways, 
and  steers  me  clear  in  many  a  channel,  and  can  point  out  almost 
everything  of  interest.  He  took  me  through  the  Bank  of  England, 
not  one  of,  but  the  greatest  monetary  institution  in  the  world.  It 
occupies  a  plain  solid-looking  building  in  the  business  heart  of 
London.  There  is  not  a  window  opening  to  the  outside  world. 
Where  there  are  window-frames,  they  are  closed  with  solid  ma- 
sonry. The  inside  is  illuminated  by  skylights.  There  is  no 
bustle  and  noise  among  the  officers  and  attaches  of  the  bank,  but 
everything  moves  like  clockwork. 

The  first  church  I  visited  was  St.  Helen's,  in  Bishopsgate,  the 
next  oldest  church  in  London.  The  walls  are  built  in  Scotch 
style,  of  rough  stones  and  dark  mortar,  but  they  are  built  to  last. 
This  church  was  founded  in  1216.  It  was  then  a  Roman  CathoHc 
church  with  a  monastery  attached.  It  has  been  largely  rebuilt 
and  restored.  It  is  now  a  high  church.  The  ceiling  is  in  the 
oldest  style  of  architecture.  It  has  two  aisles  separated  by  arches. 
In  one  corner  of  the  building  is  a  little  chapel,  where  any  one, 
during  the  day,  can  go  and  pray  and  meditate.  I  found  several 
in  there  thus  engaged.  The  floor  is  a  very  graveyard.  You  walk 
over  the  dead  at  every  step.  Stones  with  the  name  and  epitaph 
of  the  dead  are  let  in,  and  form  part  of  the  floor.  Some  of  the 
tombs  are  like  great  monuments,  rising  several  feet  from  the  floor. 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  27 

Upon  these,  chiseled  in  marble,  he  the  life-size  figures  of  a  man 
clad  in  mail  and  a  woman  by  his  side.  In  one  place  in  the  wall, 
as  high  as  a  man's  head,  lie  the  figure  of  a  man  clad  in  full  armor, 
as  a  knight,  with  his  sword  by  his  side,  and  by  him  the  figure  of 
his  wife.  At  their  feet  stands  a  small  woman  with  clasped  hands 
before  an  open  book.  She  has  wide  hoop-skirts,  swelling  out 
laterally  from  the  waist,  with  a  frill  all  around  the  top  of  the  skirt, 
as  if  she  were  set  in  a  l)ell-shaped  tub.  The  inscription  is  in  old 
Latin. 

One  is  "To  the  memory  of  John  Bathurst  Dean,  M.  A.,  First 
Rector  of  the  United  Parishes  of  St.  Martin,  Ontwich,  with 
St.  Helen,  1873  to  1887;  born  1797,  died  1887." 

As  Dr.  Giffin  and  I  wandered  around  the  streets  we  saw  a 
crowd  gathered  about  an  old  church  door,  and,  joining  them,  we 
saw  a  bridal  party  coming  out.  The  bride  was  dressed  in  cream- 
colored  satin,  with  a  trail  about  two  yards  long,  and  a  little  boy 
and  girl,  richly  dressed,  but  with  stockings  barely  peeping  out  of 
their  shoe-tops,  exposing  their  bare  legs,  carrying  this  immense 
trail.  All  the  party  had  Jewish  faces,  and  I  was  told  that  very 
many  Jews  attach  themselves  to  the  Church  of  England. 

On  Holborn  Street  stands  the  only  building  built  in  the  Eliza- 
bethan period,  and  in  the  style  of  architecture  of  that  time.  It 
stands  on  a  very  populous  street,  and  looks  almost  ready  to  fall; 
but  the  Londoners  loath  to  see  this  last  relic  of  the  past  taken 
away.  Old  things  are  treasured,  but  old  things  must  yield  to  the 
inevitable. 

Yesterday  I  visited  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  the  grandest  structure 
in  London.  In  all  these  letters  I  am  trying  to  "  fight  shy"  of  the 
guide-books,  and  tell  you  of  things  as  I  see  them;  but  for  certain 
facts  it  is  necessary  for  me  to  refer  to  the  book.  We  are  told  that 
this  is  the  third  church  erected  on  this  site  bearing  this  name. 
The  first  was  built  in  610.  It  was  burned  in  1087,  lasting  a 
period  of  477  years.  Soon  after  its  destruction  it  was  rebuilt  on 
a  grander  scale.  This  second  building  lasted  till  the  great  fire 
in  1666,  when  it  went  down  in  the  general  wreck.  For  eight 
years  it  lay  in  ruins.  The  corner-stone  of  the  present  building 
was  laid  by  the  Masonic  Fraternity,  June  21,  1675.  The  mallet 
and  trowel  used  on  that  occasion  are  still  preserved  in  one  of  the 
lodges.     Sir  Christopher  Wren  was  the  architect  of  this  building. 


28  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

As  I  stood  under  the  great  dome  and  looked  in  every  direction, 
trying  to  take  in  the  details  of  this  massive  structure,  I  could  not 
but  ask  myself  the  question,  How  was  it  possible  for  any  one  mind 
to  conceive  all  this  before  one  stone  was  laid  upon  another?  But 
here  it  stands,  370  feet  to  the  top  of  the  cross.  Its  length  is  550  feet, 
and  its  width,  125  feet.  It  is  in  the  form  of  a  Latin  cross.  Look 
which  way  you  will,  the  proportions  are  perfect.  There  is  har- 
mony, and  yet  variety.  I  slowly  wandered  all  over  it,  wondering, 
wondering,  at  its  massiveness  and  its  details.  The  whole  struck 
me  as  a  church  built  with  a  Catholic  ideal.  There  is  an  immense 
altar  of  white  marble  most  beautifully  carved  and  in  perfect  har- 
mony of  proportions,  while  before  it  stand  wax  candles  four  or 
five  feet  long,  six  inches  in  circumference,  mounted  upon  candle- 
sticks twenty  feet  high.  There  are  other  candles  of  smaller  di- 
mensions, ranged  round  about  the  altar.  I  noticed  some  of  these 
burning  during  service.  The  stained-glass  windows  are  of  ex- 
quisite beauty,  all  representing  Scripture  subjects.  Statues  are 
in  niches  in  the  walls  on  every  hand,  and  all  are  of  superior 
workmanship.  I  could  write  page  after  page,  and  not  exhaust 
the  subject. 

Since  writing  my  last  I  have  passed  a  Sabbath,  and  my  experi- 
ence has  been  unique. 

I  rent  a  room  in  the  Hotel  Russell,  and  take  my  meals  at  res- 
taurants as  I  want  them,  and  on  Sunday  as  I  can  get  them. 

I  knew  nothing  of  the  customs  here  on  the  Sabbath.  On  Sun- 
day morning.  Dr.  Giffin  and  I  started  out  about  nine  o'clock  to 
get  our  breakfast.  The  Doctor  said,  "I  have  my  doubts  about 
our  getting  anything,  for  everything  is  closed  up  on  Sunday  until 
after  service."  We  tramped  through  street  after  street.  Not  an 
eating-house  was  open.  At  last  the  Doctor  said,  "Maybe  we  can 
get  a  bite  at  the  restaurant  at  the  railroad  station."  We  went 
there,  and  at  the  door  was  an  officer  to  see  that  none  but  hungry 
travelers  should  pass  in.  We  told  him  we  were  Americans,  just 
in  the  country,  and  without  more  ado  we  pushed  by  him,  and  all 
that  we  could  get  was  a  small  loaf  of  bread  with  butter,  and  a  cup 
of  tea  for  the  Doctor  and  a  glass  of  milk  for  me.  In  the  strength 
of  this  morsel  of  bread  and  glass  of  milk  I  had  to  go  all  day. 

We  went  to  Christ  Church  to  hear  F.  B.  Myer  preach.  On  our 
way  we  met  three  of  our  preachers  that  had  just  landed, —  Brother 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  29 

Nelms  of  Texas,  and  Brothers  Johnson  and  Thomas  of  Arkansas. 
They  joined  our  company.  As  we  })assed  Spurgeon's  Tahernacle 
we  stepped  in  to  see  it.  It  has  two  galleries  all  round  the  churcli, 
one  above  the  other.  The  pulpit  is  on  a  level  with  the  lower 
gallery. 

They  read  and  sung  the  Episcopal  service  at  Dr.  M3'er's  church, 
although  it  is  a  Congregational  church.  He  gave  us  a  most  ex- 
cellent sermon,  remarkable  for  its  simplicity  and  earnestness. 
He  insisted  on  genuine  conversion,  or  change  of  heart. 

After  a  half-hour's  rest  we  went  to  a  three-o'clock  service  at 
St.  Paul's.  As  we  approached  the  Cathedral  the  bells  were  chim- 
ing most  musically,  and  they  kept  it  up  for  twenty  minutes.  By 
the  hour  for  service,  that  mighty  building  was  full.  The  seats 
3,re  rude  rush-bottom  chairs  of  the  plainest  sort,  fastened  together 
in  long  rows.  While  the  vast  body  of  the  congregation  was 
English,  I  saw  Hindoos,  Chinese,  and  negroes.  The  service  was 
very  elaborate,  the  ritual  alone  consuming  an  hour.  They  had 
a  choir  composed  mainly  of  boys  dressed  in  white  robes  with 
black  velvet  collars.  There  were  some  men  and  some  women  in 
the  choir.  I  had  no  means  of  estimating  the  number,  but  there 
Avere  more  than  a  hundred,  and  the  organ  was  superior  to 
any  one  I  ever  heard.  Sometimes  the  heavier  bass  notes  sounded 
like  thunder,  and  fairly  made  the  building  tremble.  The  echo, 
or  rather  echoes,  of  the  building  are  marvelous.  Every  note  is 
repeated  from  all  parts  of  the  building.  Every  arch  seems  to 
fling  back  its  own  echo,  and  when  the  preacher  raised  his  voice, 
which  he  often  did,  the  echoes  were  almost  confusing.  Canon 
H.  S.  Holland  was  the  preacher  on  this  occasion.  While  he  evi- 
•dentlv  had  his  manuscript  before  him,  he  but  seldom  looked  at 
it.  He  preached  with  great  unction  and  power,  and  so  powerful 
was  his  voice  that  I  have  no  doubt  every  one  in  that  vast  audience 
heard  him  distinctly. 

He  was  preaching  on  faith,  taking  for  his  text  the  witliering  of 
the  barren  fig  tree.  He  showed  what  evils  could  be  removed  by 
faith,  and,  among  other  things,  spoke  of  the  Boer  war,  greatly 
deprecated  it,  and  said  it  ought  to  be  stopped.  I  was  hardly 
prepared  for  such  an  expression  of  sentiment  in  such  high  places. 
Dr.  Myer  in  the  morning  prayed  for  the  removal  of  this  terrible 
war.  I  find  the  British  here  at  home  are  greatly  divided  on  this 
question. 


30  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

After  the  service,  feeling  quite  hungry,  I  went  contidently  for 
a  restaurant;  but  they  were  all  still  closed.  What  was  I  to  do? 
That  glass  of  milk  and  one  little  piece  of  bread  could  hardly  com- 
fort me  till  nine  o'clock  next  day, —  the  earliest  hour  at  which 
one  can  get  breakfast  at  a  restaurant.  You  remember  God  sent 
the  ravens  to  feed  Elijah.  Could  I  expect  such  deliverance?  I 
accosted  a  man  on  the  street  and  asked,  "  Are  there  no  restaurants 
open?  "  Just  as  he  said,  " Not  one,"  I  felt  a  tap  on  the  shoulder, 
and  turning  round,  Mr.  Waters,  a  young  ship  acquaintance,  said, 
"Doctor,  are  you  looking  for  a  restaurant?  They  are  all  closed. 
Come,  go  with  me  to  my  hotel  and  take  supper  with  me."  The 
raven  had  come,  and  I  got  my  supper.  I  took  my  young  friend 
with  me  to  a  Methodist  church  that  night.  There  we  met  Bishop 
Galloway,  who,  I  found  after  service,  was  as  hungry  as  I  had  been 
a  little  while  before.  You  see,  our  entertainment  does  not  begin 
until  the  day  before  the  Conference  opens;  hence  we  have  to  take 
care  of  ourselves,  which  we  found  to  be  a  hard  thing  to  do  on 
Sunday. 

BRITISH   MUSEUM. 

I  spent  four  hours  slowly  wandering  among  the  wonders  and 
treasures  of  this  place.  It  is  too  much  to  attempt  to  describe, 
It  is  a  very  treasure-house  of  wonders  and  curiosities.  When  I 
entered  the  archaeological  departments  I  was  enchained,  and 
spent  so  much  of  my  time  there  that  I  had  but  little  left  for  other 
things  and  other  departments. 

The  archaeological  wealth  of  the  buried  cities  of  the  East  is 
gathered  and  treasured  here.  I  felt  assured  that  I  was  looking 
upon  things  that  Jonah  saw  in  Nineveh;  that  Daniel  saw  in 
Babylon;  that  Jacob  and  Joseph  saw  in  Egypt.  Covered  over 
for  thousands  of  years,  they  were  kept  undisturbed  until  God's 
good  time  arrived  for  their  unearthing;  and  now  this  mightiest 
and  wealthiest  of  empires  has  laid  them  up  and  labeled  them  for 
the  pleasure  and  profit  of  His  people.  Here  are  things  that  set 
the  seal  of  truth  upon  Scripture  revelation  and  history.  Every 
fact  speaks  for  God  and  his  truth.  These  revelations  have  given 
a  voice  to  stones  and  clay,  that  should  make  glad  the  heart  of 
Christendom.  While  unbelievers  carp  and  quibble,  God  reigns; 
and  when  the  time  comes,  he  will  overthrow  all  his  enemies  with 


My  Trip  to  the  Oriknt.  31 

the  breath  of  his  mouth.  First  in  importance  and  chief  in  in- 
terest came  the  Rosetta  Stone.  .  This  stone  was  dug  up  from  the 
ruins  of  an  ohl  fort  near  one  of  the  mouths  of  the  Nile  —  the 
Rosetta  mouth  —  hence  the  name  —  in  1799.  It  was  placed  in 
the  British  Museum,  where  I  saw  it  in  1901.  Portions  of  it  are 
broken  off,  but  enough  remains  to  form  the  key  with  which  to 
unlock  the  J^gyptian  hieroglyphics.  The  stone  is  what  is  known 
as  basalt,  just  such  stone  as  our  paving-blocks  are  made  of.  The 
lettering  is  very  distinct,  and  is  beautifully  done.  The  man  who 
chiseled  it  was  evidently  a  writer  for  the  king,  and  was  one  of  the 
best.  While  the  document  is  the  same,  yet  the  inscription  is  in 
three  distinct  writings,  the  top  being  in  Egyptian  hieroglyphics, 
the  style  of  the  priests;  the  second  is  in  the  domestic,  or  writing 
of  the  people;  and  the  last  is  in  Greek.  From  the  proper  names 
and  their  position  in  the  several  inscriptions  it  was  found  that 
the  subject-matter  in  all  three  was  the  same.  Not  only  so,  but 
these  proper  names  unlocked  the  mystery  and  the  meaning  of  the 
hieroglyphics.  Since  then  men  learned  in  the  art  can  read  either 
the  hieroglyphics  or  the  writing  of  the  common  people.  I  could 
but  feel  a  thrill  of  pleasurable  excitement  as  I  stood  and  gazed 
upon  this  stone,  that  had  lain  in  the  British  Museum  for  one  hun- 
dred 3^ears  and  in  the  sands  of  the  Nile  many  hundreds  of  years, 
and  now  linking  the  languages  of  the  past  with  the  present,  sing- 
ing the  cradle-song  of  literature  and  with  the  same  voice  sounding 
the  highest  notes  of  victory  for  the  God  of  all. 

"  God,  who  at  sundry  times  and  in  divers  manners  spake  in 
time  past  unto  the  fathers  by  the  prophets,"  is  now  confirming 
his  declarations  to  us  by  unearthing  these  treasures  of  the  dust. 
Thousands  of  discoveries  have  been  made,  and  while  hundreds  of 
them  have  confirmed  the  truth  of  Scriptures,  not  one  iota  has 
been  against  them.  It  was  worth  my  trip  to  London  to  see  this 
wonderful  stone.  In  another  part  of  the  building  I  saw  a  cast  of 
the  Moabite  Stone.  The  original  is  in  France.  This  stone  was 
found  in  the  land  of  Moab  in  1868.  It  was  made  about  890  years 
before  Christ,  and  records  the  victory  of  the  Moabites  over  Ahab, 
king  of  Israel. 

The  trouble  I  find  in  writing  of  this  Museum  is,  that  there  is 
so  much,  that  I  hardly  know  what  to  select;  but  I  was  impressed 
with  the  vast  number  of  inscriptions  on  cylinders,  tablets,  bricks, 


32  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

and  other  forms  of  clay.  It  is  remarkable  a  material  should  be 
selected,  that,  while  abundant,  was  indestructible  by  the  elements. 
Think  of  writing  on  any  material  now  used  —  paper,  parchment,  or 
even  metal  itself  —  lying  buried  in  soil  soaked  with  the  rains  of 
thousands  of  years,  that  may  be  subject  to  fires,  as  well  as  floods, 
and  coming  out  as  clear  and  distinct  as  when  first  written.  Clay, 
when  prepared  and  burned,  becomes  this  indestructible  material. 
It  becomes  fixed.  It  can  no  more  be  reduced  either  b}^  fire,  air,  or 
water  to  its  original  soft  and  pliant  state.  These  people  of  olden 
time  were  not  slow  to  discover  this  fact;  and  while  at  first  they 
may  have  selected  this  material  to  make  immortal  the  deeds  of 
their  kings  and  great  men,  the  common  people  could  use  it  on  all 
other  occasions  and  for  all  other  purposes.  Kings,  in  building, 
had  inscribed  the  fact  of  their  reign  on  all  the  bricks  used  in  their 
buildings;  and  here  are  great  numbers  of  these  bricks  with  the 
stamps  of  kings  who  reigned  from  three  thousand  to  four  thou- 
sand years  ago. 

Sometimes  the  most  ingenious  shapes  were  given  to  these  clay 
records.  They  even  made  envelopes  of  clay,  in  which  to  send 
messages  and  letters.  I  saw  great  numbers  of  these,  some  of  them 
about  the  size  and  shape  of  a  lady's  portemonnaie,  and  the  letter 
inclosed  just  the  shape  of  the  little  cocoanut  cakes  we  buy  in  the 
shops.  I  suppose  things  were  not  done  in  such  a  rush  as  now- 
adays. Think  of  a  young  man,  when  desiring  to  communicate 
with  his  beloved,  mixing  a  lot  of  clay,  writing  his  messages  on  it, 
taking  another  batch,  inscribing  her  name  and  address,  laying 
them  out  in  the  sun  to  dry,  then  putting  them  in  a  kiln  to  bake 
before  sending !  I  saw  deeds  conveying  lands,  and  records  con- 
cerning the  sale  of  sheep  and  cows. 

Then  there  were  tablets  ten  by  three  inches,  half  an  inch  thick, 
with  a  list  of  wearing-apparel,  etc.,  with  a  number  of  small  holes 
after  each  article.  I  suppose  the  careful  housewife,  when  she  sent 
out  her  washing,  stuck  little  sticks  or  pins  in  these  holes  to  keep 
a  record  of  how  many  of  each  article  were  sent  out. 

But  one  thing  interested  me  very  much,  and  that  was  part  of  a 
baked-clay  cylinder  inscribed  in  Babylonian  characters,  giving 
an  account  of  the  capture  of  Babylon  by  Cyrus,  B.  C.  539. 

Then  there  were  several  of  these  cylinders  ten  inches  long,  made 
in  the  exact  shape  of  a  keg,  with  the  hoops,  four  in  number,  rep- 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  33 

resented  in  the  clay.  These  were  written  all  over,  except  the 
hoops.  There  were  also  slabs  of  clay  about  the  size  and  shape 
of  a  common  slate,  covered  with  inscriptions. 

I  could  have  spent  days,  instead  of  hours,  looking  over  these 
archaeological  records  of  the  long  ago.  I  have  much  more  to  say 
concerning  the  things  seen,  if  I  can  find  the  time. 


BRITISH    MUSEUM.  —  (Continued.) 

A  very  interesting  figure  is  that  of  an  Assyrian  winged  man- 
headed  lion  of  great  size.  It  once  stood  at  the  door  of  the  palace 
of  the  king  of  Assyria.  There  was  also  a  winged  man-headed  bull 
of  the  same  dimensions,  taken  from  the  same  ruins. 

Among  other  things  is  a  column  perhaps  twenty  feet  high  and 
three  feet  in  diameter,  carved  all  over  with  hieroglyphics,  brought 
from  Egypt.  It  records  the  name  and  tells  the  deeds  of  Rameses  II, 
B.  C.  1330. 

In  the  same  vicinity  is  a  sarcophagus  of  wood,  another  of  stone, 
and  another  of  metal,  the  one  of  stone  being  of  immense  size, 
and  all  in  a  fine  state  of  preservation. 

There  is  a  life-size  statue  of  wood,  representing  an  unknown 
king,  taken  from  the  tomb  of  the  kings  at  Thebes,  B.  C.  1350. 
The  arms,  nose,  and  much  of  the  face  are  gone,  but  the  feet  and 
legs  are  perfect,  and  are  as  natural  and  shapely  as  can  be.  I 
noticed  a  good-sized  knot  in  the  wood,  that  showed  plainly  on  one 
hip.  It  is  wonderful  that  wood  should  endure  for  over  three 
thousand  years,  but  here  it  is,  and  the  inscription  verifies  the 
fact. 

Among  other  curiosities  from  the  palaces  of  Nimrod  are  a  lot 
of  diminutive  bells,  an  old  reap-hook  very  much  the  shape  of  the 
reap-hooks  of  our  day,  and  a  strainer  with  a  handle  to  it.  So  in 
the  mighty  hunter's  day,  they  had  their  little  call-bells,  and  the 
good  housewife  employed  a  strainer,  if  not  as  artistic,  yet  as  use- 
ful as  ours. 

There  were  innumerable  little  burnt-clay  tablets  not  longer 
than  one's  finger,  containing  prayers,  hymns,  and  even  texts. 
These  came  from  Babylon  and  Nineveh.  No  doubt  but  the  cap- 
tive Israelites  planted  these  seeds  from  God's  Word,  and  these 
verses  from  their  songs  among  those  that  held  them  in  bondage. 


34  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

The  mummy-hall  is  a  place  of  much  interest.  The  Scriptures 
speak  of  the  Egyptians  embalming  the  dead,  and  here  is  a  con- 
firmation of  that  fact.  I  walked  among  the  bodies  of  men  and 
women  who  had  been  dead  for  thousands  of  years,  some  still  se- 
curely wrapped  in  cloths  woven  before  Moses  was  born. 

These  old  Egyptians  had  selected  the  material  above  all  other 
that  would  last;  for  these  cerements  of  the  grave  having  been 
steeped  in  some  resinous  substance  would  make  them  lasting. 
But  what  of  it  all?  Little  did  these  kings,  queens,  and  princes 
think,  before  they  died,  that,  after  ages,  their  bodies  would  be 
dragged  from  their  resting-places,  transported  over  land  and  sea, 
to  be  exposed  and  gazed  uj)on  by  crowds  of  the  curious  from 
every  nation  under  heaven. 

Some  of  the  bodies  had  been  unwrapped  and  the  dried  flesh 
exposed;  others,  again,  had  been  stri})ped  even  of  the  flesh,  and 
the  white  bones  laid  l)are.  I  examined  the  teeth  of  a  number; 
some  had  missing  molars,  some  teeth  were  decayed,  some  were 
regular  and  even,  wd:iile  others  were  what  we  call  "  snaggle-teeth." 
In  one  instance  the  front  teeth  were  filled  with  little  round  plugs 
of  gold,  not  to  fill  cavities,  as  with  us,  but  cavities  were  evidently 
made  and  filled  for  ornamental  purposes,  so  that  when  a  fellow 
grinned,  he  would  show  his  gold. 

But  there  were  not  only  mummies  of  men  and  women,  but 
these  old  Egyptians  embalmed  their  sacred  bulls,  cats,  and  croco- 
diles. I  saw  several  of  these  animals,  before  whom  these  people, 
enlightened  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  bowed  down  and  worshiped. 
What  a  confirmation  of  the  Scriptures.  "  Men  became  vain  in  their 
imaginations,  and  their  foolish  heart  was  darkened.  Professing 
themselves  to  be  wise,  they  became  fools,  and  changed  the  glor}^ 
of  the  uncorruptible  God  into  an  image  made  like  to  corruptible 
man,  and  to  l)irds,  and  four-footed  beasts,  and  creeping  things." 

The  man  that  turns  away  from  God's  Word  is  sure  to  fall  into 
gross  error,  whether  that  error  be  the  worship  of  birds,  beasts, 
creeping  things,  or  spiritism.  Christian  science,  —  falsely  so  called, 
—  theosophy,  or  the  scores  of  other  things  condemned  in  the 
wisest  Book  the  world  has  ever  seen  or  ever  will  see. 

As  I  looked  at  this  dried  beef,  these  swathed  tom-cats,  and  this 
hideous  crocodile,  I  wondered  how  it  was  possible  that  a  people 
who  chiseled  the  solid  mountain  into  a  Sphinx,  reared  the  Pyra- 


My   Tiui-  TO  TiiK  <)kiknt.  35 

mids  with  astronomic  accuracy,  and  possessed  a  literature  at  tliat 
time  unparalleled  in  the  world's  history,  could  be  guilty  of  the  folly 
of  reckoning  these  things  as  their  gods.  But  this  and  all  other 
similar  questions  are  only  solved  in  the  history  of  man's  fall,  as 
only  recorded  in  the  Book  of  books. 

These  old  bulls  had  long  since  ceased  to  bellow,  these  tom-cats 
t(i  complacently  lick  their  paws  in  the  presence  of  their  worshiji- 
ers,  and  their  dried  carcasses  are  laid  upon  the  shelf,  as  so  many 
monuments  of  man's  folly  and  God's  wisdom. 

I  saw  the  writing  material  of  the  Egyptians,  consisting  of  tal)- 
lets,  the  prepared  papyrus,  pens  of  reeds,  and  inkstands.  The 
tablets  were  of  wood,  and  had  receptacles  for  pens  of  reeds,  long 
but  small,  not  larger  round  than  the  tine  of  a  table-fork.  The 
inkstands  were  blocks  of  stone  with  a  number  of  small  cavities 
in  which  varied  colored  inks  were  placed  for  the  convenience  of 
the  writer.  The  papyrus  looked  a  good  deal  like  veneering  or 
thin-shaved  wood. 

When  the  Egyptians  laid  away  the  bodies  of  their  dead,  they 
wrote  their  name  and  deeds  on  papyrus,  rolled  it  tightly  together 
and  sealed  it  with  two  seals,  and  laid  it  in  with  the  dead.  I  saw 
a  number  of  these  rolls. 

There  is  also  a  large  display  of  sandals  for  the  feet;  some  of 
straw,  some  of  a  material  resembling  papyrus,  and  some  of  leather. 
The  straw  and  the  papyrus  are  in  a  good  state  of  preservation, 
but  the  tooth  of  time  has  dealt  hardly  with  the  leather. 

A  large  number  of  unburned  brick  from  Egypt  is  here.  They 
are  very  much  like  our  adobes  in  California.  They  were  of  dif- 
ferent sizes;  in  some  I  could  discover  the  straw  incorporated  in 
them.  These  were  the  kind  of  brit'k  made  by  the  children  of 
Israel  while  in  P]gypt.  And  who  knows  but  that  some  of  these 
here  in  the  British  Museum  were  made  by  them? 

I  saw  a  number  of  clay  tablets,  with  tlieir  envelopes  of  the 
same  material,  written  in  Babylon  two  thousand  and  two  thou- 
sand three  hundred  years  before  Christ,  containing  deeds  and 
other  documents.  I  was  much  impressed  with  a  number  of 
boundary-stones,  erected  to  mark  the  boundary  of  la  ml  eleven 
hundred  years  before  Christ.  The  inscriptions  upon  them  were  as 
plain  as  on  the  day  they  were  set  up.  These  stones  were  of  basalt 
rock,  about  a  foot  square  and   three  feet   in   height.     I  was  re- 


36  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

minded  of  the  command  given  to  Israel,  "Thou  shalt  not  remove 
thy  neighbor's  land-mark."  This  stone  could  be  removed,  if  a 
dishonest  neighbor  saw  proper  to  do  so. 

I  have  read  of  Nebuchadnezzar  since  I  was  a  child,  and  some- 
how the  length  of  his  name  ever  impressed  my  childish  imagina- 
tion with  the  thought  that  he  was  the  greatest  of  Eastern  kings. 
It  was  my  privilege  to  see  his  door-step.  It  is  of  bronze,  and 
most  beautifully  carved  and  ornamented.     It  was  used  B.  C.  604. 

Some  of  the  necklaces  taken  from  the  tombs  at  Nimrod  re- 
semble the  wampum  of  the  North  American  Indians.  Others 
were  of  beautiful  stones  of  various  colors  and  degrees  of  fineness. 

In  the  literary  department  I  was  permitted  to  see  some  of  the 
copies  of  the  Bible  done  by  hand  and  most  elaborately  ornamented. 
The  skill  in  the  formation  of  the  ornamental  letters  was  marvel- 
ous. Different  colors  of  ink  were  used,  and  while  there  was  great 
variety,  yet  was  there  uniformity.  It  must  have  taken  years  to 
complete  the  work. 

Wyclif's  Bible  and  the  Latin  Vulgate  attracted  my  attention 
more  than  any  other  books  in  this  wonderful  collection.  The 
latter  was  written  in  796-801. 

I  have  mentioned  only  a  few  things  that  particularly  arrested 
my  attention,  which  I  thought  would  interest  you.  All  round 
the  walls  and  everywhere  are  things  curious  and  interesting. 

I  have  not  mentioned  relics  and  curiosities  from  every  land 
under  the  sun. 

I  left  the  Museum,  feeling  that  I  was  not  half-satisfied,  but  I 
could  give  it  no  more  time.  There  were  other  buildings  connected 
with  the  Museum,  but  I  did  not  have  time  or  opportunity  to  visit 
them. 

When  the  Conference  opened  I  went  nowhere  else. 

THE   TOWER. 

Before  leaving  California  I  received  a  nice  letter  from  Rev. 
H.  Neate  giving  me  some  useful  hints  and  directions.  Among 
other  things  he  stressed  a  visit  to  the  London  Tower.  So  I  em- 
braced the  first  opportunity  to  see  this  historic  building. 

In  company  with  Mr.  Behrens,  a  German  of  New  York,  and 
his  daughter.  Miss  Sophia,  the  latter  a  born  guide,  who  were  fel- 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  37 

low-passengers  on  the  way  over,  I  went  through  the  Tower,  the 
history  of  which  runs  back  into  the  mists  of  tradition.  Here,  wo 
are  told,  the  Emperor  Julius  Caesar  held  his  court  while  in  Britain. 
But  there  is  enough  of  unwritten  history  to  make  this  the  most 
conspicuous  object  in  this  city  of  wonders.  Miss  Behrens  had  to 
surrender  lier  kodak  and  her  reticule  to  the  custody  of  an  officer 
while  we  went  into  the  Tower.  The  first  thing  that  arrested  my 
attention  in  approaching  the  Tower  were  numbers  of  cross-slits  in 
the  heavy  walls,  from  which  soldiers  could  fire  their  muskets  at 
enemies  on  the  outside,  with  but  little  danger  to  themselves. 
Massiveness  and  strength  marked  every  part  of  the  pile.  In  the 
days  in  whicli  it  was  built  it  was  impregnable,  but  with  the  thir- 
teen-inch  guns  of  the  present  day,  that  can  hurl  a  shell  ten  miles, 
and  pierce  steel  armor-plates  a  foot  thick,  they  could  knock  the 
whole  thing  into  a  rock-pile  in  a  few  hours. 

The  moat  that  surrounded  the  Tower,  and  that  can  still  be 
flooded  if  necessary,  is  now  dry,  and  the  old  drawbridge  spans  it 
unmolested.  I  looked  with  interest  on  the  stone  steps  leading 
from  the  river,  up  which  many  a  prisoner  had  climbed  to  go  out 
no  more.  We  entered  heavy  oaken  doors  that  had  shut  ouf  hope 
from  many  a  high-born  and  many  a  royal  prisoner  in  troublous 
times. 

In  this  Tower  are  treasured  up  various  implements  of  war  from 
the  ancient  times.  Here  are  the  old  match-lock  guns,  the  first 
ever  used  with  gunpowder.  Then  comes  the  flint-lock,  and  on 
and  on  to  the  guns  of  the  present  day.  Back  of  all  this  is  the 
sling,  the  bow  and  arrow,  the  cross-bow,  the  lance,  the  spear,  the 
grenade,  the  dagger,  sword,  and  battle-ax.  Here  we  find  the  de- 
fensive armor  as  well, — the  helmet,  the  breast-plate,  and  heavy 
and  ingenious  coats  of  mail;  figures  of  knights  of  the  olden 
times,  mounted  on  horseback,  both  horse  and  rider  covered  with 
mail,  seemingly  heavy  and  unwieldy  enough  to  weigh  down  horse 
and  rider,  and  close  enough  to  melt  a  warrior  even  in  winter-time. 
Then  there  were  instruments  of  torture  and  cruelty.  I  saw 
women  shudder  when  they  looked  upon  the  "  rack,"  an  instru- 
ment with  a  heavy  beam  at  each  end,  round  which  the  ropes  at- 
tached to  hands  and  feet  are  wound,  tearing  the  helpless  victim 
in  two.  Then  there  was  the  thumb-screw,  not  so  deadly,  but,  if 
possible,  more  cruel.     There  is  preserved  the  real  block  on  which 


38  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

victims  laid  their  necks  to  have  their  heads  chopped  off.  The  ax 
with  which  the  bloody  deed  was  done  is  also  preserved.  It  is  the 
one  with  which  Lord  Lovat  was  beheaded,  April  1,  1747.  The 
handle  is  about  two  feet  in  length,  and  the  blade  is  about  fifteen 
inches  long  and  about  ten  inches  wide  at  the  cutting  edge. 

One  of  the  most  wonderful  and  elaborately  carved  brass  cannons 
that  I  ever  saw  is  here.  It  was  brought  from  Malta  in  1798. 
The  barrel,  four  feet  long,  is  most  beautifully  carved,  while  on 
the  carriage,  at  the  breech,  are  two  figures  carved  in  wood.  They 
appear  as  bound  to  the  carriage,  the  mouths  wide  open  as  if 
screaming  in  agony,  while  every  feature  of  their  faces  is  distorted 
with  pain.  The  inevitable  wood-worms  have  bored  innumerable 
little  holes  all  through  these  figures.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  God, 
through  his  various  agencies,  lays  his  effacing  fingers  on  all  things 
here  below,  and  mocks  the  impotency  of  man. 

We  stood  in  the  prison  where  many  a  royal  victim  had  been 
confined.  Monograms,  names,  letters,  and  sentences  are  chiseled 
in  the  hard  rock,  —  done  by  prisoners  who  had  naught  else  to  do 
to  while  away  the  time  while  waiting  on  the  will  of  their  captors. 

We  were  conducted  into  the  chapel,  where  was  pointed  out  the 
oldest  organ  in  England.  It  is  still  in  use.  Lastly,  we  entered 
the  jewel-room,  where  all  the  crown  jewels  are  kept.  They  are 
inclosed  in  an  immense  glass-case,  that  is  a  room  of  itself.  There 
we  saw  the  crowns  of  the  king  and  queen  of  the  British  Empire, 
and  were  permitted  to  gaze  as  long  as  we  liked  upon  the  spar- 
kling gems  that  adorned  them.  Diamonds,  rubies,  and  pearls  were 
stuck  all  over  them.  By  the  side  of  these  crowns  lay  the  scepters 
of  royalty,  the  elaborate  maces,  borne  on  state  occasions  by  the 
servants  of  the  king.  Salt-urns  that  would  hold  a  gallon,  wine- 
receptacles  of  great  size,  all  of  solid  gold,  to  be  used  at  coronation 
banquets,  and  other  things  too  numerous  to  mention,  were  laid  up 
and  guarded  in  this  room  and  Tower. 

As  I  stood  and  looked  at  these  royal  jewels  and  i)araphernalia 
of  power  and  dignity,  I  felt  that  perhaps,  after  all,  I  experienced 
as  much  real  pleasure  and  satisfaction  in  looking  at  them  as  the 
owners  of  them  did  in  wearing  them,  and  I  could  not  but  think  of 
the  coronation  day  that  awaits  the  faithful  servant  of  God  and 
Jesus  Christ.  We  shall  need  no  tower,  no  soldiers  to  guard  our 
treasures.     For  there  shall  be  nothing  to  harm  or  hurt  us  in  that 


My   Tuii'  TO  TiiK  OiuKNT.  ;]0 

Holy  City.     Our  crowns   sliall    he  crowns   of   ri;ilitcousness,  tlial 
shall  never  fade  awav. 


ECUMENICAL  CONFERENCE,    LONDON. 

The  great  Ecumenical  Conference  of  Methoilisni  met  in  Wesley's 
old  church,  City  Roads  Chapel,  according:  to  appointment,  Sep- 
tember 4,  UiOl.  There  was  quite  a  full  delegation  the  first  day. 
They  liad  come  from  all  i)arts  of  the  work!.  Every  continent  of 
the  globe  and  many  islands  of  the  sea  were  represented;  verifying 
the  declaration  of  Mr.  Wesley,  "The  world  is  my  parish."  If  he 
himself  did  not  visit  all  parts  of  his  parish,  his  followers  have, 
bearing  an  open  Bible,  and  proclaiming  the  grand  and  funda- 
mental doctrines  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,— free  salvat.on  to  all, 
justification  by  faith,  and  the  witness  of  the  Spirit  to  each  and 
all.  And  here,  on  the  very  ground  where  he  made  the  declara- 
tion, w-ere  gathered  nearly  five  hundred  holy  men,  to  bring  news 
from  far  and  near  of  what  God  had  wrought  through  the  preach- 
ing of  the  blessed  doctrines  which  he  had  formulated,  and  given 
as  a  glorious  heritage  to  the  race. 

Everything  about  us  reminded  us  of  our  great  leader.  A  monu- 
ment to  his  memory  stands  in  the  front  yard  of  the  church.  On 
the  right  is  his  house,  where  he  studied,  wrote,  and  prayed. 
Many  of  his  belongings  have  been  preserved  in  this  building. 
But  nothing  impressed  me  more  ])rofoundly  than  his  little  prayer- 
room, —  should  I  not  say  closet?  for  it  was  not  much  more  than 
eight  feet  square,  with  one  little  window  opening  to  the  light.  As 
I  stood  alone  in  this  little  room,  I  was  even  more  {)rofoundly  im- 
pressed and  moved  than  when  I  stood  in  the  chapel  where  he  had 
so  often  stood  to  proclaim  the  freeness  and  fullness  of  the  gospel 
of  God's  grace.  Here  was  the  secret  place  of  his  power;  here  he 
pleaded  for  his  followers,  and  the  world  of  mankind;  here  he 
kindled  into  a  hotter  flame  that  heavenly  fire  with  which  he  first 
felt  his  "heart  strangely  Avarmed";  here  he  held  audience  with 
his  Master,  and  sought  for  relief  when  the  burdens  of  his  own  re- 
sponsibilities were  too  great  for  him;  here  he  took  his  cares  ami 
troubles  to  one  w'ho  cared  for  him,  and  here,  by  his  example,  he 
taught  his  followers  to  pray. 

I  am   not  a  worshiper  of  men  nor  of  places,  but  while  here  I 


40  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

could  not  but  call  up  the  memory  of  this  chosen  vessel  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  prayed  that  the  Saviour  that  guided  and 
guarded  him  might  ever  be  my  guide  and  guard.  The  chapel  is 
plain,  neat,  and  substantial.  The  gallery  around  three  sides  of 
the  room  is  borne  up  by  seven  massive  pillars  of  high- polished, 
variegated  French  marble  of  reddish  color.  At  the  base  of  each 
of  these  pillars  is  a  plate  on  which  is  inscribed  the  section  of  the 
church  that  it  represents.  One  is  for  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  North,  one  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South,  one 
the  Irish  Church,  one  the  Canadian  Church,  one  the  Australian 
Church,  one  the  South  African  Church,  and  one  the  East  Indian 
Church.  Around  the  entire  gallery,  only  a  foot  or  two  apart,  is 
represented  a  serpent  forming  a  circle  by  bringing  its  head  and 
tail  together,  and  in  this  circle  a  white  dove  with  an  olive  leaf  in 
its  mouth,  emblematic  of  the  "wisdom  of  the  serpent  and  the 
harmlessness  of  the  dove."  There  are  beautiful  stained-glass  win- 
dows just  back  of  the  pulpit,  and  on  each  side  of  it  tablets  and 
inscriptions  abound.  In  the  yard,  just  back  of  the  church,  is  the 
grave  of  John  Wesley,  and  by  his  side  rests  the  body  of  Method- 
ism's greatest  commentator.  Dr.  Adam  Clarke. 

I  doubt  if  Methodism  has  ever  produced  so  learned  a  man  as 
Adam  Clarke.  His  tomb  is  a  modest  one.  The  inscription  upon 
it  is  nearly  effaced.  Mr.  Wesley's  monument  is  a  more  recent 
\One,  and  is  in  a  fine  state  of  preservation. 

The  Conference  opened  with  a  sermon  by  our  own  Bishop 
Galloway.  The  editor  of  the  Methodist  Recorder  said  of  it,  that 
it  was  worth  all  that  the  Conference  had  cost.  It  was  plain  and 
practical,  and  was  delivered  with  the  grace  and  ease  of  manner 
for  which  he  as  a  speaker  is  remarkable.  I  thought  he  was  some- 
what hampered  by  being  in  the  little  round  pulpit,  elevated 
nearly  on  a  level  with  the  gallery.  All  the  members  of  the  Con- 
ference partook  of  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  At  the 
afternoon  session  the  roll  was  called,  disclosing  the  fact  that  the 
great  majority  of  the  Conference  was  present  on  this  first  day  of 
its  session. 

The  programme  was  all  arranged  by  the  Business  Committee, 
and  every  man  knew  his  place  and  his  duty. 

At  both  the  morning  and  afternoon  sessions,  an  essay  is  read, 
and  two  other  men,  selected  by  the  Business  Committee,  give  a 


My  Trip  to  thk  Okiknt.  4'^ 

talk  of  ten  minutes  each  upon  some  topic  kindred  to  the  essay, 
and  the  rest  of  the  session  is  given  to  whoever  might  gain  the 
floor  for  a  tive-minutes'  speech.  The  opportunity  for  these  Hve- 
minutes'  sj)eeches  revealed  the  fact  tliat  we  are  a  hody  of  speakers. 
Three  and  four  would  spring  to  their  feet  at  the  fall  of  the  gavel, 
that  stopped  the  man  on  the  floor,  shouting,  "Mr.  President," 
and  this  shouting  would  continue  until  one  of  them  was  recog- 
nized, wiien  the  rest  would  suhside  until  the  gavel  shut  off  the 
wind  of  the  last  recognized. 

One  afternoon  our  English  brethren  got  into  a  discussion  over 
the  Boer  war.  There  is  a  large  party  opposed  to  the  war,  who 
are  very  outspoken.  We  Americans  sat  off  and  enjoyed  the  con- 
test. 

The  news  of  the  attempted  a^^sassination  of  President  McKinley 
stirred  our  British  brethren  most  profoundly,  and  their  resolu- 
tions and  speeches  showed  their  deep  love  for  the  Ihiited  States 
and  their  interest  in  us. 

Some  very  tine  speeches  were  made,  V)otli  by  Englishmen  and 
Americans. 

OTHER  THINGS  IN  LONDON. 

There  are  a  few  other  things  about  London  that  I  desire  to 
mention.     Among  them  is  a  piece  of  American  enterprise. 

The  English  had  built  an  underground  railway.  The  trains 
were  drawn  by  a  steam-locomotive.  I  went  through  it  once.  It 
is  a  smoky,  dusty,  "stuffy"  sort  of  a  place.  But  a  company  of 
Americans  have  built  what  is  known  among  the  English  as  the 
"tup'ny  tube," — that,  is  twopenny  tube,  as  twopence,  or  four 
cents  in  our  currency,  is  the  fare,  whether  you  go  one  station  or 
the  whole  length  of  the  tube.  It  is  built  deep  underground,  and 
is  lined  with  porcelain  bricks.  The  whole  is  lighted  and  run  by 
electricity;  hence  there  is  no  smoke  or  dust.  The  cars  are  con- 
structed much  after  the  American  })attern.  I  had  to  go  through 
this  tube  twice  a  day  in  going  to  and  from  the  Conference.  It 
was  always  crowded,  —  in  a  word,  it  is  the  most  popular  line  in 
London. 

One  can  hardly  have  seen  London  until  he  has  visited  West- 
minster Abbey.  It  is  a  renowned  and  wonderful  l)uilding,  —  its 
history  most  prominent  and  important,  running  back  into  the 


44  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

centuries.  It  holds  the  dust  of  kings  and  queens  of  the  most 
illustrious  line,  and  while  no  royal  body  has  been  laid  within  its 
walls  for  several  hundred  years,  yet  tablets  erected  to  the  mem- 
ory of  names  from  other  walks  in  life  have  been  added  to  the 
list. 

We  are  so  accustomed  to  the  use  of  the  adjective  "lofty,"  that 
when  we  speak  of  the  lofty  arches  of  the  Abbey  we  feel  sure  you 
will  fall  short  in  your  estimate  of  them.  Nothing  in  the  building 
impressed  me  more  than  they.  I  have  never  seen  anything  ap- 
proximating them.  Even  St.  Paul's,  in  its  grandeur  and  massive- 
ness,  hardly  approaches  it.  The  marble  statues  and  figures  that 
stand  in  great  profusion  on  every  side  are  of  the  same  colossal 
mold. 

I  saw  the  coronation  chair.  It  is  a  regular  heirloom  of  the 
kingdom.  About  the  only  things  to  commend  it  are  its  age  and 
the  fact  that  all  the  kings  and  queens  of  England  have  been 
crowned  in  it.  I  think  if  the  man  who  made  it  had  known  that 
it  was  to  survive  the  ages,  and  occupy  so  honorable  a  position, 
he  would  have  modeled  it  after  a  different  pattern  and  laid  upon 
it  more  lines  of  beauty.  As  it  is,  it  is  a  square-box  affair,  with  a 
moderately  high  straight  back,  coming  to  a  point  at  the  top. 
Under  it  is  a  great  stone  perhaps  two  feet  long  and  ten  inches 
thick.  I  could  not  see  the  width.  It  was  brought  from  Scotland. 
The  Scotch  kings  and  queens  used  to  sit  upon  it  to  be  crowned, 
and  now  every  potentate  of  England,  when  crowned,  must  sit 
upon  this  stone. 

There  is  one  piece  of  sculpture  said  to  be  the  finest  in  the 
Abbey.  It  is  of  white  marble,  representing  some  duke,  with  his 
wife  dying  in  his  arms,  terrified  at  the  approach  of  Death,  which 
is  symbolized  as  a  skeleton  wrapped  in  a  white  sheet.  The  ex- 
pression upon  the  duke's  face  is  one  of  indescribable  terror  as 
Death  approaches  with  eyeless  sockets,  grinning  teeth,  and  flesh- 
less  arms. 

From  Westminster  Abbey  I  went  to  the  Parliament  House. 
It  is  a  stupendous  building,  worthy  of  so  great  a  nation.  Al- 
together, the  seats  in  the  House  of  Lords  and  in  the  House  of 
Commons  were  not  so  fine,  artistic,  or  convenient  as  I  expected 
to  see.  They  were  simply  long  benches;  some  of  them  faced 
the  presiding  officer,  but  the  majority  of  them  were  placed  on 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  45 

each  side,  with  their  ends  to  the  President.  It  struck  me  as  an 
awkward  arrangement. 

All  the  seats  or  benches  in  the  House  of  Lords  were  covered 
with  crimson  morocco,  while  those  in  the  House  of  Commons 
were  in  black.  I  went  into  all  the  rooms  to  which  visitors  are 
allowed. 

On  Sunday,  September  8th,  I  was  appointed  to  preacii  at 
St.  John's  Square  Methodist  Church.  In  going  to  the  cliurch  i 
had  to  pass  St.  John's  Gate.  This  is  an  arch  of  stone,  spanning 
the  street,  said  to  have  been  placed  there  by  Julius  Caesar  when 
he  was  in  Britain.  Near  it  is  Smithfield,  where  John  Rogers 
was  burned  at  the  stake  in  1555,  his  wife  and  nine  children  wit- 
nessing the  awful  sight,  the  youngest  of  the  children  being  still 
at  the  breast.  Two  others,  John  Bradford  and  John  Philpot,  in 
1556  and  1557,  consecutively,  were  burned  on  the  same  spot.  A 
feeling  of  awe  came  over  me  as  I  read  the  record  of  the  martyr- 
dom of  these  faithful  servants  of  God,  who  "loved  not  their  lives 
unto  death." 

The  Wesleyan  Methodists  are  doing  a  wonderful  work  among 
the  poor  of  London.  They  have  almost  the  entire  Church  organ- 
ized for  work,  and  the}^  work.  But  they  complain  that  they  are 
not  getting  hold  of  the  better  classes,  as  they  desire.  I  think  I 
see  why  it  is;  they  have  made  the  work  for  the  poor  a  hobby, 
and  in  their  zeal  for  the  one  class,  they  have  neglected  the  other. 
This  ought  they  to  have  done,  and  not  leave  the  other  undone. 
The  invariable  result  of  stressing  any  one  thing  too  much  is  to 
lose  at  other  and  vital  points.  Jesus  announced  the  fact  "that 
the  poor  have  the  gospel  preached  to  them,"  but  he  did  not  con- 
fine his  labors  to  them.  Had  he  done  so,  the  wife  of  Chuza,  and 
others  of  means,  would  not  have  ministered  of  their  substance 
unto  him.  At  his  death  his  body  would  have  gone  into  the  grave 
with  the  wicked,  that  had  been  prepared  for  him,  had  not  one  of 
his  rich  friends,  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  come  to  the  rescue;  for 
the  literal  translation  of  Isaiah  liii,  9,  "And  he  made  his  grave 
with  the  wicked,  and  with  the  rich  in  his  death,"  is,  "They  pre- 
pared his  grave  with  the  wicked,  but  he  was  with  the  rich  in  his 
death." 

I  repeat  and  emphasize  the  fact,  that  it  is  fatal  to  any  cause  to 
stress  any  one  point  too  much,  or  cultivate  any  one  part  of  the 
field  to  the  neglect  of  another. 


46  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 


CHAPTER   III. 

Leaving  London  —  Paris  —  Rome  —  Names  of  the  Party  —  Column  of 
Marcus  Aurelius  —  Pantheon  —  St.  Peter's— Pope's  Treasures  — 
Pope's  Carriages  —  Codex  Vatican  —  Picture  of  the  Judgment,  by 
Michael  Angelo  —  Making  Saints  —  Ostian  Way  —  St.  Paul's 
Church  —  Column  of  Tra.ian  —  The  Colosseum  —  Triumphal  Arches 
—  Ruins  of  Basilica  and  Temples — St.  John's  Church  — Scala 
Sancta  —  Water-supply  —  Tasso. 

LEAVING    LONDON. 

I  DID  desire  and  intend  to  remain  in  London  to  the  close  of 
the  Conference,  for  this  was  my  objective  point;  but  I  had  con- 
templated a  trip  to  Rome,  Palestine,  and  Egypt.  I  learned  that 
J.  R.  Pepper,  of  Memphis,  Tennessee,  with  his  family,  was  going 
the  very  route  I  had  laid  out  in  mind.  I  determined  to  go  with 
him,  although  this  necessitated  my  leaving  London  on  Monday 
morning,  September  9th. 

The  English  Channel  was  on  its  best  behavior,  and  we  crossed 
it  in  an  hour  and  a  half.  After  crossing  over,  our  conversation 
had  to  be  confined  to  our  own  little  company,  for  I  knew  not  a 
word  of  French,  and  everybody  else,  of  course,  confined  himself 
to  that  tongue. 

We  reached  Paris  just  at  night;  it  was  raining.  We  had  to 
drive  from  one  side  of  the  city  to  the  other  to  get  our  train  for 
Rome.  The  whole  city,  as  well  as  the  stores,  was  ablaze  with 
electric  lights.  Tbe  electric  cars  that  we  passed  in  the  streets 
were  two  stories  high,  and  seats  on  the  top  besides.  I  was  struck 
with  one  thing  that  I  saw  also  in  Rome.  All  around  the  hotels, 
on  the  sidewalks,  were  little  tables  and  chairs,  where  the  people 
sit,  especially  in  the  evening,  to  drink  wine  and  beer,  and  discuss 
whatever  topics  that  may  interest  them.  I  could  but  ask.  What 
liecomes  of  the  homes  of  such  a  people? 

As  we  had  several  hours  in  Paris,  we  took  supper  at  a  restau- 
rant. At  the  close  of  the  meal  we  called  for  some  fruit;  they 
brought  us  a  tray  Avith  eight  nice  peaches  artistically   arranged 


My  Trip  to  thk  Orikxt.  47 

in  a  nest  of  grape  leaves.  We  asked  the  price,  and  were  told 
*' one  franc "  (twenty  cents  in  our  currency).  We  were  astonished 
at  the  cheapness,  and  took  the  lot.  There  were  five  in  our  com- 
pany, and  we  took  one  apiece,  divided  two,  and  gave  Sister  Pepper 
the  whole  one.  If  we  had  n't  eaten  so  heartily  of  other  things, 
I  think  we  would  have  ordered  another  lot.  When  we  came  to 
settle  our  bill,  we  found  the}^  were  one  franc  apiece  instead  of 
•one  franc  for  the  lot.  We  joked  Sister  Pepper  for  having  eaten 
iorty  cents'  worth  of  peaches  after  a  hearty  sui)i)er,  and  wondered 
what  she  would  dream  about. 

The  next  morning  we  woke  among  the  Al))s,  and  on  looking 
out,  the  first  thing  I  saw  was  a  beautiful  lake  lying  like  molten 
silver  among  the  mountains.  The  scenery  was  grand.  Great 
rugged  mountains  towered  on  each  side  of  the  road,  while  our 
train  glided  along  a  narrow  valley  that  lay  on  each  side  of  a 
fretted  stream,  hastening  from  its  home  in  the  heights  to  quieter 
scenes  in  the  lands  below.  I  was  struck  with  the  great  number 
■of  chestnut  trees  loaded  with  burrs,  that  made  me  think  of  my 
boyhood  days,  when  I  used  to  rise  early  to  pick  up  the  chestnuts 
that  might  have  fallen  during  the  night,  and  to  get  ahead  of  the 
hogs,  that  were  as  fond  of  them  as  I.  I  would  not  take  time  to 
put  on  my  shoes,  and  in  my  eagerness  would  often  step  on  a  burr. 
I  actually  felt  the  sensation  of  having  a  half-hundred  prickles  in 
the  bottom  of  my  foot. 

It  seemed  that  every  available  foot  of  ground  was  under  culti- 
Tation,  and  little  patches  could  be  seen  away  up  the  mountain 
side,  where  these  poor  peasants  were  coaxing  the  soil  to  give 
them  a  living.  I  was  struck  Avith  the  appearance  of  poverty  on 
Kill  sides.  How  the  people  in  the  mountains  ever  make  a  living 
is  a  mystery  to  me. 

In  the  evening  I  caught  my  first  sight  of  the  Mediterranean, 
.at  Genoa,  where  Christopher  Columbus  was  born.  It  is  quite  a 
place,  and  the  large  number  of  shii)s  seen  in  tlie  l)ay  gave  signs 
of  life  and  prosperity. 

We  passed  Pisa  at  night,  and  did  not  catch  sight  of  the  cele- 
brated "leaning  tower." 

At  Turin  I  was  struck  with  the  l)eauty  of  the  place,  but  espe- 
•cially  with  the  elegant  residences,  that  stand  high  up  the  hill- 
sides.    It  must  be  something  of  a  task  to  climl)  to  these  homes. 


48  My  Trip  to  thk  Oriknt. 

And  if  their  owners  have  business  in  the  city  below  them,  it. 
must  take  much  of  their  time  going  to  and  from  their  places  of 
business, —  at  least,  it  gives  them  plenty  of  exercise. 

All  along  through  France  and  Italy,  I  saw  women  working  ini 
the  fields,  —  in  fact,  doing  whatever  labor  men  do.  They  have  a, 
hard  lot.  Brother  Pepper  tells  me  that  in  some  places  they  work 
as  section-hands  on  the  railroads. 

One  fact  I  noticed  all  the  way  through  the  Continent,  whether- 
in  the  fertile  valleys  or  among  the  mountains:  they  have  the  best 
country  roads  I  ever  saw.  They  are  as  smooth  as  the  streets  of 
a  city.  I  saw  a  number  of  yokes  of  oxen  hitched  to  wagons.. 
The  tongue  of  the  wagon,  instead  of  ending  at  the  yoke,  as  with 
us,  is  turned  up  in  a  curve  three  or  four  feet  high,  —  for  what, 
purpose  I  could  not  divine. 

romp:. 

We  reached  Rome  about  7:30,  a.  m.,  September  11th.  Every 
one  here  calls  it  Ro-ma,  dividing  the  word  into  two  syllables. 
We  were  conducted  to  Hotel  de  Angleterre,  where  we  met  Miss 
Elizabeth  Redford,  daughter  of  the  late  Rev.  A.  H.  Redford,  once 
agent  of  our  publishiuL'  house  in  Nash  vide,  Tennessee,  who  has 
charge  of  our  party.  This  will  make  her  fourth  trip  to  the 
Orient.  She  has  had  charge  of  other  parties,  is  very  enthu- 
siastic, and  thoroughly  understands  the  business.  From  all  that 
I  have  seen,  we  have  a  most  agreeable  party,  consisting  of  Miss 
Elizabeth  Redford,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  R.  Pepper,  Miss  Mary  Pep- 
per, and  Master  Sam  Pepper,  of  Memphis,  Tennessee;  Mrs.  F.  E. 
Bates,  of  Kansas  City,  Missouri;  Miss  Anna  H.  Scales,  of  Nash- 
ville, Tennessee;  Miss  Celeste  Harrison,  of  Mississippi;  Miss  Sue- 
Luck,  of  Tennessee;  Miss  Goldie  A.  Rice,  and  Miss  Cottie  M. 
Rice,  of  Louisville,  Kentuck}';  Miss  Bessie  Clark,  of  Jackson,. 
Mississippi;  Mr.  William  Magness,  of  McMinnville,  Tennessee; 
and  Mr.  Edgar  Magness,  of  Attalla,  Alabama.  Our  interpreter 
and  conductor  was  Mr.  A.  P.  Albina,  a  native  of  Jerusalem;  but. 
while  in  Italy  we  had  an  Italian  guide.  I  had  not  been  with  the 
party  an  hour  until  I  felt  perfectly  at  home  among  them, —  though 
a  "stranger,  they  took  me  in,"  with  a  cordiality  and  kindness, 
that  was  refreshing. 


My  Trii'  to  thk  Okiknt.  49 

Just  as  soon  as  we  removed  some  of  the  dust  and  <:rinie  (»f  travel, 
and  got  our  l)reakfast,  — by  the  way,  a  breakfast  in  Kome.  and 
everywhere  else  in  this  country,  consists  merely  of  cold  l)read  and 
saltless  butter,  and  whatever  one  wants  to  drink,  —  we  took  car- 
riages and  went  out  sight-seeing. 

Miss  Redford  understands  that  the  object  of  our  coming  is  to  see; 
and  she  planned  accordingly.  We  were  to  see  as  much  of  Rome 
as  possible  during  our  few  days'  stay  here.  Sh(!  had  secured  the 
best  guide  to  be  had,  — an  Italian  born  and  raised  in  Rome, 
—  a  sculptor,  whose  father  before  him  was  of  the  same  craft.  He 
is  an  enthusiast,  and  delights  to  show  us  the  wonders  of  his  native 
city  and  to  explain  them  to  us.  He  is  a  perfect  gentleman,  a 
Roman  Catholic,  and  has  access  to  many  places  denied  to  other 
guides.  He  speaks  English  very  well.  His  name  is  Del  Seniore. 
The  first  object  of  interest  shown  us  was  the  Column  of  Marcus 
Aurehus,  erected  161-180  A.  D.  It  is  covered  all  over  with  bas- 
relief  figures  representing  his  victories  over  the  Germans.  It  is 
of  great  size,  and  towers  to  a  height  of  1874  feet.  The  whole  is 
crowned  with  a  statue  of  St.  Paul. 

Perhaps  this  is  as  good  a  place  as  any  other  to  say  that  when 
the  Church  of  Rome  got  into  power  the  effort  was  made  to  destroy 
everything  that  was  pagan.  Nothing  was  too  beautiful,  nothing 
too  valuable,  nothing  too  sacred,  to  stand  before  their  ruthless 
superstitious  fanaticism.  Temples  the  most  ancient,  statues  the 
most  beautiful,  went  down  in  ruin  under  their  hands,  until 
some  of  the  wiser  popes,  to  save  some  of  the  finest  works  of  art, 
and  the  more  renowned  and  beautiful  buildings,  consecrated 
them  by  making  shrines  and  churches  of  them.  This  wonderful 
column  was  preserved  by  placing  the  statue  of  St.  Paul  upon  it. 
We  next  went  to  the  Pantheon.  This  is  considered  the  most 
splendid  monument  of  antiquity.  And  splendid  as  it  is,  it  was 
robbed  of  very  much  of  its  wealth  of  ornament  before  the  Church 
laid  its  hand  upon  it  and  consecrated  it  to  Christ.  It  was  built 
by  Agrippa,  son-in-law  to  Augustus  Caesar,  27  B.  C.  It  is  a  per- 
fect dome,  and  perliaps  the  largest  dome  in  the  world.  Its  di- 
ameter is  132  feet,  and  it  measures  the  same  in  height.  Vou  may 
imagine  what  immense  walls  are  necessary  to  sui)i)ort  such  a 
dome.  I  had  no  means  of  measuring  the  thickness  of  these  walls, 
but  they  must  be  ten  feet,  or  even  more. 


50  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

The  building  is  lighted  only  by  a  circular  opening  at  the  top, 
twenty-eight  feet  in  diameter,  but  from  the  floor  it  looks  not  more 
than  ten  feet.  There  are  sixteen  columns  of  Oriental  granite  in 
front,  made  of  single  blocks  crowned  with  beautiful  capitals.  I 
estimated  these  columns  at  six  feet  in  diameter  at  the  base.  The 
doors  are  original,  and  are  fourteen  inches  in  thickness  and 
twenty  feet  in  height.  Very  much  of  the  interior  was  at  one  time 
covered  with  the  most  beautiful  bronze,  but  cupidity  and  supersti- 
tion tore  it  away,  leaving  only  enough  to  give  one  an  idea  of  its 
richness  and  beauty. 

We  drove  over  the  Tiber,  on  a  bridge  built  b}'  the  ancient 
Romans.  In  widening  the  river  at  this  point,  it  was  necessary 
to  construct  two  additional  arches  at  the  ends  of  the  bridge,  but 
the  two  central  arches  are  those  built  by  the  Romans.  A  better 
piece  of  work  of  the  kind  one  seldom  sees.  They  look  as  if  they 
will  stand  as  long  as  the  historic  Tiber  rolls  its  tide  to  the  sea. 
Near  this  bridge  is  another  remarkable  piece  of  masonr}-.  It  is  a 
sewer  built  a  thousand  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ.  It  is  of 
great  size,  arched  at  the  top,  and  looks  as  if  it  would  stand  three 
thousand  years  more.  It  is  said  that  Agrippa  took  a  boat  and 
rowed  into  it,  that  he  might  with  his  own  eyes  see  this  wonderful 
structure.  Nothing  of  the  kind  at  the  present  day  surpasses  it. 
There  are  now  twelve  bridges  in  Rome,  spanning  the  river  Tiber. 

ST.   PETER'S. 

Of  course,  St.  Peter's  Church,  under  whose  shadow  is  the  Vati- 
can, is  one  of  the  most  celebrated  of  the  world.  I  had  formed  a 
very  inadequate  idea  of  its  immense  size,  and  it  was  not  until  I 
had  been  all  through  it,  and  rode  all  around  it,  that  I  could  grasp 
its  magnitude.  In  its  construction,  genius  exhausted  itself,  and 
the  wealth  of  the  richest  church  on  earth  was  poured  in  lavish 
profusion  upon  it.  The  most  renowned  sculptors  of  the  world 
gave  the  most  skillful  work  of  their  hands  to  it.  Painters  have 
expended  all  their  skill  in  adorning  its  walls  and  frescoing  its 
ceilings.  Kings,  queens,  potentates,  princes,  and  the  wealthiest 
men  and  women  of  all  lands,  have  given  of  their  richest  and  best 
gifts  to  it.  Gold,  silver,  diamonds,  rubies,  and  all  manner  of 
precious  stones  from  Orient  and  Occident  flame  and  sparkle  on 


My    TkII'    to    TlIK    ()|{1KNT.  51 

its  altars,  and  jj;arnish  its  statues  and  its  walls.  Popes,  wljose 
hands  have  been  in  the  pockets  of  all  the  niulti plied  millions  of 
their  people  round  the  globe,  have  vied  with  one  another  in 
making  this  church  the  wonder  of  the  world.  The  great  of  tlie 
earth,  as  well  as  the  common  people  of  every  land,  have  made 
p)ilgrimages  to  this  Mecca  of  Catholicism,  worshijied  at  its  altars, 
and  left  of  their  best  within  its  walls.  Human  ingenuity  has 
done  all  in  its  power  and  skill  in  placing  this  wealth  of  treasure 
so  as  to  impress  the  beholder  and  awe  the  faithful.  Arched 
aisles  stretch  away  in  every  direction,  on  whose  marl)le  floors 
men  move  about  as  specks,  or  stand  like  particles  of  dust  in  the 
balance.  Statues  the  most  colossal,  and  yet  the  most  perfect  in 
form  and  grouping,  stand  along  these  aisles,  or  occupy  niches 
here  and  there  throughout  the  building.  But  the  dome,  who  can 
describe!  Though  so  great  in  size,  so  high,  yet  its  proportions 
are  so  perfect,  it  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired.  From  where  it 
springs  above  the  massive  arches  that  support  it  on  every  side  to 
the  apex,  there  are  pictures  in  fresco  that  are  almost  above  criti- 
cism.    They  blend  and  charm  like  a  landscape. 

Our  guide  secured  to  us  the  privilege  of  climbing  to  the  toj)  of 
this  dome.  Circling  round  and  round  like  a  great  corkscrew,  the 
steps  lifted  us  higher  and  higher,  until  we  w'ere  dizzy  with  the 
constant  turning  and  the  great  elevation. 

On  and  up  we  climbed,  until  some  of  our  party  l)egan  to  pause 
by  the  way.  So  narrow  was  the  spiral  chamber  through  which 
we  circled,  that  two  men  could  scarcely  pass  each  other,  and  yet 
upward  we  climbed,  as  if  we  should  never  reach  the  goal.  But  all 
things  earthly  must  have  a  limit,  and  the  spiral  stairway  that 
winds  up  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's  must  end  somewhere  this  side 
the  sky.  The  last  of  the  698  steps  was  taken  —  were  we  in  the 
ball?  Not  yet.  Any  more  climbing  to  do?  Yes;  there  set  an 
iron  ladder  perpendicularly,  through  the  neck  that  supports 
the  ball.  Once  more,  as  Bunyan  says,  "  I  addressed  myself  to  the 
journey."  Narrower  and  m.ore  narrow  became  the  i)assage,  until 
I  had  to  press  against  the  ladder  wilh  my  breast  to  squeeze 
through,  and  at  last  I  stood  within  the  ball,  which  I  found  to  be 
some  eight  or  ten  feet  in  diameter,  without  ventilation.  It  was 
not  necessary  to  stay  long,  so  I  was  soon  on  my  way  down. 

Meeting  Brother  Pepper,  who  weighs  jierhaps  seventy-tive  or 


52  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

eighty  pounds  more  than  I,  at  the  foot  of  the  ladder,  I  advised 
him  of  the  strait,  and  doubted  his  ability  to  squeeze  through. 
But,  nothing  daunted,  he  took  off  his  coat  and  vest,  and  prepared 
to  climb  and  squeeze.  He  succeeded,  but  said  if  he  had  been  a 
little  larger,  or  the  hole  a  little  smaller,  he  never  could  have  done 
so.  Most  of  the  young  ladies  of  our  party  also  succeeded  in 
making  the  trip. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  pictures  and  of  the  frescoing  that  adorn 
the  walls  and  ceiling  of  the^clome.  These  are  not  all  paintings, 
but  some  are  mosaic,  hence  they  are  as  V)right  and  distinct  as  the 
day  they  were  made,  and  will  be  for  a  thousand  years  to  come. 
Nor  are  they  copies,  but  were  made  by  the  Masters  themselves. 
In  building  and  adorning  this  central  church  of  Catholicism, 
popes  have  vied  with  one  another  in  employing  the  best  artists 
and  most  renowned  painters  of  the  world.  And  these  artists  and 
painters  have  been  glad  to  lay  upon  these  altars  the  best  fruit  of 
their  skill,  that  they  might  perpetuate  their  names  and  fame,  and 
be  talked  of  round  the  world.  But  one  must  see  this  wonder  of 
architecture  and  painting  to  properly  appreciate  it.  No  descrip- 
tion can  conve}'^  an  adec^uate  idea  of  it. 

Our  guide  secured  for  us  the  privilege  of  viewing  the  treasures 
of  the  Pope  as  stored  in  this  church.  There  is  too  much  of  it, 
and  it  is  too  varied  to  describe.  Were  I  sitting  before  it  as  I 
write,  my  powers  would  fail  me,  and  I  should  simply  confuse  you. 
I  shall  therefore  select  only  a  few  things,  and  speak  of,  not  de- 
cribe,  them. 

They  have  the  ro3'al  robe  of  Charlemagne.  This  is  a  sort  of 
cloak,  with  as  much  of  gold  as  could  be  wrought  in  it.  To  me  it 
looked  clumsy.  Perhaps  if  I  had  seen  it  on  the  shoulders  of  the 
great  chieftain  it  might  have  looked  better. 

There  was  shown  us  the  jubilee  robe  of  Pope  Pius  IX.  This, 
too,  was  heavy  with  gold,  and  to  my  eye  it  was  more  striking 
than  that  of  Charlemagne. 

There  is  a  colossal  statue  of  St.  Peter  in  the  church,  that  is 
dressed,  as  if  alive,  once  a  year,  —  June  29th.  The  miter  placed 
upon  the  head  is  of  immense  size,  corresponding  with  the  size  of 
the  statue.  It  is  covered  all  over  with  diamonds  and  other  rare 
and  costly  gems.  The  miter  itself  is  largely  of  gold.  The  robes 
are  all  covered  with  beautiful  figures  wrought  in  gold. 


My  Trii'  to  thk  Oriknt.  53 

There  is  a  finger-ring  set  with  tlie  rarest  and  most  costly  stones. 
This  ring,  almost  as  large  as  a  common-sized  napkin-ring,  just 
fits  the  finger  of  the  statue.  Besides  these,  there  are  otlier  orna- 
ments worn  by  this  statue  on  this  day,  that  I  cannot  now  recall. 
June  29th  is  called  St.  Peter's  Day,  and  in  Rome  is  one  of  the 
greatest  in  the  year.  On  that  day  the  church  is  crowded  to  its 
utmost  capacity.  Admiring  thousands  gaze  with  awe  and  ad- 
miration on  the  gold-and-diamond-ladened  figure  of  the  apostle, 
while  the  Peter  that  the  Evangelists  tell  us  alxnit  had  to  look 
into  a  fish's  mouth  to  get  a  few  pence  with  which  to  pay  tlie  trib- 
ute laid  upon  him  and  his  divine  Master.  But  upon  what  meat 
hath  this  Peter  fed,  that  he  hath  grown  so  great? 

No  potentate  on  earth,  east  or  west,  excels  him  in  the  richness 
and  splendor  of  his  adorning.  "Even  Solomon  in  all  his  glory 
was  not  arrayed  like  this  one."  Nor  has  ever  such  homage  been 
paid  to  any  one  before.  As  I  looked  upon  this  statue  and  \\\>nu 
the  gorgeous  robes  that  are  placed  upon  it,  —  saw  with  mine  own 
eyes  the  sparkling  gems  that  blazed  in  the  miter  they  place  on 
its  head,  and  heard  them  tell  what  homage  is  paid  it,  —  I  could 
not  but  ask  myself  the  question,  Is  this  the  enhghtened  twentieth 
century?  and  is  it  possible  for  such  things  to  exist  in  Rome, 
which,  before  our  Saviour's  time,  sat  proud  mistress  of  the  world, 
and  whose  very  literature  has  come  down  to  the  present  day,  — 
where,  lying  in  the  same  building,  is  the  oldest  manuscript  of  the 
Bible,  whose  first  command  was  thundered  from  Sinai  against 
the  worship  of  images?  But  I  must  not  forget  that  I  am  telling 
about  the  treasures  of  the  Pope,  that  it  was  my  privilege  to  see. 

There  was  a  "  suspensonia,"  —  a  something  like  an  immense 
candlestick,  whose  top  spread  in  every  direction,  like  rays  of  light. 
Each  one  of  these  rays  was  studded  with  diamonds  great  and 
small,  until  there  seemed  to  be  no  more  place  for  another  precious 
stone.  This  single  article,  perhaps  four  feet  in  height,  cost  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars. 

Then  there  was  the  ring  of  St.  Peter,  spoken  of  before,  big 
enough  to  go  over  the  fist  of  a  child,  but  that  just  fits  the  finger 
of  the  statue,  that  was  worth  its  thousands.  This,  too,  is  placed 
on  the  finger  of  St.  Peter,  June  29th,  with  all  the  other  rich  bo- 
longings  of  this  fisherman  of  Galilee. 

There  was  a  candelabra  presented  by  the  gifted  Michael  Angelo. 


54  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

It  is  said  to  be  the  richest  in  the  world.  Then  there  were  shown 
us  the  robes  worn  by  Pius  IX  on  his  jubilee,  made  expressly  for 
the  occasion.  These  robes  blazed  with  gold  wrought  into  the  very 
texture  of  the  fabric.  These  were  never  used  but  the  one  time, 
and  are  now  laid  away,  only  to  be  looked  at.  These  are  only  a 
part  of  the  many  things  we  saw  in  this  home  of  treasures. 

We  were  conducted  through  portions  of  the  Vatican,  extra 
privileges  being  accorded  us.  We  were  permitted  to  see  the  Pope's 
carriages.  They  were  twelve  in  number,  and  of  the  richest  and 
most  elaborate  patterns,  each  one  differing  from  the  other.  We 
were  accompanied  by  the  Pope's  coachman,  who,  our  guide  told 
us,  talked  more  to  "His  Holiness"  than  any  other  man. 

He  opened  all  the  carriages  for  us,  and  let  us  look  at  the  luxu- 
rious cushions  and  the  rich  trimmings.  Had  we  seen  any  one 
of  them  alone,  we  should  have  thought  it  fine,  but  the  last  one 
shown  us  was  simply  gorgeous.  I  wish  I  could  describe  it;  I  wish 
I  could  give  you  an  idea  of  it.  It  blazed  all  over  with  gold.  It 
was  of  immense  size,  and  contained  but  one  elaborately  cushioned 
and  adorned  seat.  Figures  of  cherubim  of  gold  were  under  the 
dashboard,  and  every  part,  from  top  to  bottom,  was  constructed 
with  an  eye  to  beauty,  grandeur,  richness,  and  effect.  No  horses 
were  ever  attached  to  it,  but  six  stalwart  men,  dressed  for  the  oc- 
casion, drew  it,  with  its  honored  occupant,  the  only  time  it  was 
ever  used,  —  on  the  occasion  of  the  Pope's  jubilee.  As  I  stood 
and  looked  upon  all  this  display  of  wealth  and  beauty,  and  heard 
our  guide  tell  of  the  display  of  this  "vicegerent"  of  the  lowly 
Nazarene,  who,  so  far  as  we  know,  never  rode  but  once,  and  that 
on  the  "  colt  of  an  ass,"  just  such  as  we  saw  in  every  street  in 
Rome  and  Jerusalem,  I  could  but  exclaim,  "  What  a  contrast! 
The  servant  has  become  greater  than  his  Master!"  Hear  the 
herald  of  the  only  potentate.  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords, 
"Fear  not,  daughter  of  Zion;  behold  thy  king  cometh,  sitting  on 
an  ass's  colt";  and  then  as  I  look  upon  this  his  servant  lifted 
from  the  pit,  as  the  purchase  of  his  blood,  as  he  rides  in  all  the 
pomp  and  pageant  of  the  mightiest  of  earthly  kings,  drawn  amid 
bowing  multitudes  by  men  of  his  own  race,  in  amazement  I  ex- 
claim, "  What  a  contrast!" 

There  is  a  bronze  statue  of  St.  Peter  in  the  church,  that  has 
actually  had  the  toes  of  the  right  foot  worn  away  by  the  multiplied 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  55 

thousands  that  have  bowed  and  kissed  them.  Just  think  of  liow 
many  soft  Hps  must  have  been  applied  to  this  hard  metal  to  wear 
it  away  until  it  looks  like  a  clubfoot,  and  yet  here  it  stands,  an 
ocular  demonstration  that  the  thing  can  be  done.  I  had  been 
laboring  under  the  delusion  that  the  Pope  let  the  faithful  kiss 
his  toe,  and  when  the  historian  tells  us  that  Luther,  in  iiis 
search  for  peace,  kissed  the  Pope's  toe,  I  did  not  know  that  this 
was  the  toe  he  kissed. 

But  to  return  to  what  we  saw  in  the  Vatican,  —  this  treasure 
of  the  wonders  of  the  world.  As  I  said,  our  guide,  being  a  devout 
Catholic,  and  of  a  noted  family,  secured  for  us  special  favors. 

The  sight  that  I  prized  above  all  others  was  the  sight  of  the 
Codex  Vatican,  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  highly  ))rized  co})ies  of 
the  Scriptures  in  existence.  The  parchment  upon  which  it  is 
written  is  in  a  perfect  state  of  preservation.  It  is  written  in  three 
columns  to  the  page,  and  the  writing  is  remarkably  clear  and 
distinct.  This  is  not  a  copy,  but  is  the  original  book,  with  its 
binding  and  all.  I  am  not  a  worshiper  of  either  men,  things,  or 
places;  but  I  must  confess  to  a  veneration  for  this  oldest  copy 
of  the  Word  of  God  in  existence,  and  I  felt  thankful  to  the  au- 
thorities of  the  Romish  Church  for  its  perfect  preservation. 

There  is  an  immense  number  of  valuable  books  and  manuscripts 
stored  in  the  Vatican,  —  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand 
volumes,  and  twenty-five  thousand  manuscripts,  many  of  them 
exceedingly  valuable. 

There  are,  in  the  building,  two  pillars  of  porphyry,  said  to  have 
been  taken  from  Solomon's  Temple,  but  I  take  this,  as  many  other 
things,  "with  a  grain  of  salt."  There  are,  however,  enough  upon 
which  we  can  rely  to  satisfy  much  of  our  curiosity. 

In  the  Sistine  Chapel  in  the  Vatican  is  the  celebrated  —  I  might 
say  the  renowned  —  picture  painted  by  Michael  Angelo  on  the 
wall  above  the  altar.  I  was  disappointed  in  this,  as  a  whole, 
though  when  taken  in  detail  the  characters  represented  are  very 
fine.  It  strikes  me  as  a  fact,  that  one,  however  great  a  genius  he 
may  be,  cannot  intelligently  present  as  many  things  as  are  found 
here  in  the  compass  of  one  picture. 

This  picture  is  called  "The  Last  Judgment."  In  it  is  por- 
trayed Christ  seated  with  the  Virgin  Mother,  surrounded  by 
saints,  patriarchs,  and  prophets,  the  archangel  summoning  the 


56  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

dead  to  judgment.  On  the  right  are  the  redeemed;  on  the  left, 
the  lost.  Very  many  individual  characters  are  portrayed  on  the 
wall.  To  me,  the  whole  thing'  is  confusing.  I  find  the  same 
fault  with  other  pictures  over  which  critics  rave.  The  blending 
of  the  visible  and  the  invisible,  the  earthly  and  the  heavenly,  in 
the  same  picture,  is  to  my  mind  an  incongruity,  as  well  as  an  im- 
possibility.    It  is  not  natural,  and  hence  does  not  appeal  to  me. 

We  visited  the  Hall  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  where  this 
dogma  was  proclaimed,  —  a  dogma  that  was  intended  to  deify  the 
mother  of  our  Lord,  and  for  which  there  is  not  a  shadow  of  proof 
in  the  Scriptures.  But  here  we  stood  in  a  hall  where  one  of  the 
greatest  of  the  popes,  —  esteemed  and  declared  infallible, — sur- 
rounded by  his  cardinals,  solemnly  announced  this  dogma  to  the 
world,  and  fixed  it  in  the  Church  forever. 

Immediately  under  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's  is  a  canopy,  on 
which  art  has  expended  its  greatest  skill,  the  pillars  of  which  are 
said  to  be  copies  of  some  in  Solomon's  Temple.  Under  this  can- 
opy the  heads  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  we  were  told,  are  buried. 
In  fact,  the  bodies  of  these  men  are  said  to  be  divided  up,  and 
fragments  are  buried  at  different  places.  We  saw  all  these  places. 
Under  this  canopy,  and  over  the  heads  of  the  Apostles,  is  a  chest 
of  silver,  some  twenty  inches  long  and  twelve  inches  wide,  and 
the  same  in  height.  Whenever  a  new  cardinal  is  made,  a  piece 
of  his  stole  is  cut  off  and  deposited  in  this  box  as  evidence  that 
he  is  a  cardinal.  We  caught  frequent  views  of  the  garden  and 
grounds  of  the  Pope.  They  are  artistically  laid  out,  and  are  very 
beautiful.  I  could  write  pages,  where  I  have  written  paragraphs, 
about  St.  Peter's  and  the  Vatican. 

St.  Peter's  Church,  according  to  the  best  authorities,  occupies 
the  site  of  Nero's  Circus,  and  is  thought  by  the  same  authorities 
to  be  the  identical  spot  where  St.  Paul  was  executed.  These  au- 
thorities differ  from  Conybeare  and  Howson  on  this  subject,  the 
latter  settling  the  matter,  to  my  mind. 

In  St.  Philip's  Church  I  saw  Cardinals  Cassetta  and  Svampa 
engaged  in  making  saints.  The  church  is  a  very  large  one,  and 
I  think  I  will  not  overestimate  the  number  when  I  say  there  were 
ten  thousand  candles  burning  in  the  building.  Beside  the  altar, 
and  every  other  available  place,  there  were  lighted  candles,  and 
then  the  entire  wall  from  floor  to  top  of  dome  was  studded  with 


My  Trip  to  the  Okiknt. 


0/ 


them.  Nor  were  they  stuck  about  at  raudom,  hut  tlicv  were 
-arranged  so  as  to  produce  tlie  hest  effect.  The  two  cardinals 
(one  of  whom,  it  is  thought,  will  be  the  next  pope)  were  dressed 
in  red,  with  red  hats  on  their  heads.  A  great  choir  aesisted  with 
its  music  in  rendering  high  mass.  If  the  men  whose  names  wen- 
linked  with  this  service  were  not  made  saints,  it  will  be  no  fault 
of  these  cardinals,  judging  from  the  manner  in  which  they  con- 
•ducted  the  service. 

OSTIAX    WAV. 

We  took  a  drive  of  several  miles  on  the  Ostian  Way  to  St.  Paul's 
€hurch,  which  is  outside  the  city  limits.  Tradition  has  it  that 
here  St.  Paul  was  beheaded. 

Our  guide  told  us,  in  all  seriousness,  that  "  when  his  head  was 
-cut  off,  it  gave  three  jumps,  and  that  wherever  it  struck,  a  foun- 
tain of  pure  water  spouted  out."  And  as  the  fountains  are  there, 
thousands  believe  it.  Anyway,  they  have  built  one  of  the  most 
magnificent  churches  on  the  spot.  A¥e  saw  nothing  outside  of 
St.  Peter's  that  excelled  it. 

In  one  of  the  chapels  of  this  church,  which  I  estimated  to  be 
three  hundred  feet  long,  not  including  the  altar  space,  there  are 
•eighty  great  columns  of  solid  marble,  in  four  rows.  These 
<?olumns  must  be  four  or  five  feet  in  diameter,  and  forty  or  fifty 
feet  high.  The  floor  —  as  in  all  the  churches  in  Rome  —  is  of 
marble,  beautifully  laid  in  various  colors.  The  pillar  to  which 
the  Apostle  was  bound  just  before  his  martyrdom  is  shown  in 
this  church. 

THE   BASILICA. 

We  visited  the  ruins  of  an  immense  basilica,  in  the  midst  of 
which  is  the  Column  of  Trajan.  This  column  is  the  most  stupen- 
dous monument  of  ancient  Rome.  It  has  survived  destruction 
by  having  a  statue  of  St.  Peter  placed  ui)on  it. 

It  stands  135  feet  in  height.  It  records,  in  bas-relief  figures, 
arranged  in  spiral  order  from  base  to  summit,  the  victories  of 
Trajan  over  the  Dacians.  There  are  two  thousand  five  hundred 
figures  on  the  column,  consisting  of  men,  horses,  arms,  machines 
of  war,  trophies,  etc.  It  is  remarkable  how  very  perfect  and 
■distinct  these  figures  are  to-day. 


58  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

Near  this  column  are  the  ruins  of  the  Temple  of  Trajan. 
Broken  marble  columns  of  surpassing  beauty  strew  the  ground, 
or  stand  as  silent  monuments  of  departed  splendor.  Here,  at  one 
time,  this  mighty  man  held  court,  or  walked  amid  this  forest  of 
columns  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  earth.  But  he  is  gone,  and  only 
these  old  sentinels  stand  where  their  master  stood,  and  keep 
watch  over  his  fane,  and  at  the  same  time  they  tell  of  the  folly 
of  human  greatness  and  the  changeful  nature  of  all  things  beneath 
the  sun. 

There  once  stood  a  hill  on  this  spot,  just  the  height  of  this 
column,  and  Trajan  had  his  minions  dig  and  bear  it  away,  that 
he  might  here,  in  the  heart  of  "the  Eternal  City,"  build  his  court 
and  rear  a  monument  to  perpetuate  his  name.  Here  in  this  ba- 
silica the  tribunes  of  Rome  sat  to  judge  the  people.  But  were  it 
not  for  history,  and  the  tales  of  tradition,  we  should  walk  amid 
this  wreck  to-day  and  wonder  what  it  all  meant. 

THE   COLOSSEUM. 

Nothing  in  Rome  stands  out  more  prominently  than  the  ruins 
of  the  Colosseum.  It  is  right  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  not  far 
from  the  tomb  of  Hadrian,  which  is  a  massive  circular  building, 
and  one  of  the  land-marks  of  the  city. 

The  Colosseum  covers  six  acres  of  ground.  On  the  outside  it 
is  a  perfect  circle,  on  the  inside  it  is  eUiptical,  making  the  walls 
of  unequal  thickness.  The  rising  amphitheater  is  supported  by 
walls  and  arches  of  solid  masonry.  The  work  on  this  building 
was  done  mainly  by  the  Jews  taken  captive  by  Titus  at  the  siege 
of  Jerusalem.  They  were  brought  here  in  countless  thousands, 
and  put  to  this  labor. 

The  very  stubborn  resistance  made  to  the  Roman  armies,  when 
they  did  fall,  embittered  their  conquerors  against  them,  and  the 
more  they  oppressed  and  humiliated  them.  Fifteen  thousand  of 
them  died  while  building  the  Colosseum. 

Wonderful  had  been  the  predictions  against  them,  and  fearfully 
were  the}^  fulfilled. 

Moses  said:  "  And  the  Lord  shall  scatter  thee  among  all  people, 
from  the  one  end  of  the  earth  even  unto  the  other:  and  there 
thou  shall   serve  other  gods,  which  neither  thou  nor  thy  fathers 


Mv  Trii'  to  thk  Okiknt.  59 

have  known,  even  wood  and  stone.  And  among  these  nations 
shalt  thou  find  no  ease,  neither  shall  the  sole  of  thy  foot  liave 
rest:  hut  the  Lord  shall  give  thee  there  a  tremhling  heart,  and  fail- 
ing of  eyes,  and  sorrow  of  mind.  And  thy  life  shall  hang  in  douht 
before  thee;  and  thou  shalt  fear  day  and  night,  and  shalt  have 
none  assurance  of  thy  life:  In  the  morning  thou  shalt  say,  Would 
God  it  were  even!  and  at  even  thou  shalt  say.  Would  God  it  were 
morning !  for  the  fear  of  thine  heart  wherewith  thou  shalt  fear, 
and  for  the  sight  of  thine  eyes  which  thou  shalt  see." 

How  literally  was  this  fulfilled  as  these  merciless  task-masters 
drove  them  to  death. 

The  quarry  from  which  mucli  of  the  stones  were  taki'U  in  l»uild- 
ing  the  Colosseum  was  six  miles  away.  They  formed  a  line  of 
Jews  the  full  length,  and  made  them  pass  the  stones  from  one  to 
the  other  along  the  line. 

Their  oppressors  cared  nothing  for  their  lives,  but  like  dumb 
beasts  they  were  driven  to  their  tasks,  and  when  one  fell,  another 
was  put  in  his  place. 

We  know  of  no  building  in  the  world  that  equals  this  in  its 
capacity.  It  could  seat  an  audience  of  one  hundred  thousand 
people.  The  walls  are  of  immense  height,  and  were  formerly 
crowned  with  an  enta])lature  adorned  with  pilasters  and  windows. 
The  most  beautiful  columns  stood  at  short  intervals  on  the  to})  of 
the  walls.  We  saw  some  of  the  fragments  of  these  columns,  that 
showed  they  were  wrought  in  the  highest  style  of  tlie  art.  The 
arena  where  the  exhibitions  took  place,  and  that  attracted  the 
thousands  of  spectators  of  every  class,  from  the  Emperor  down, 
was  278  feet  long  and  177  feet  wide.  It  was  in  full  view  from 
every  seat.  A  place  was  reserved  for  the  Emperor,  and  always 
opposite  him  sat  the  vestal  virgins. 

When  we  call  up  the  scenes  that  were  enacted  witliin  these 
walls,  the  slaughter  of  men  and  animals,  and  remember  that  men 
and  women  actually  enjo3'ed  their  death-struggles,  and  instead 
of  being  satiated  and  surfeited  with  them,  they  called  for  more, 
and  gloated  over  them,  we  find  a  trait  in  human  nature  that  is 
appalling. 

Human  nature,  unsanctifieil  by  the  grace  of  God,  is  unadul- 
terated meanness  and  cruelty.  It  was  to  purify  and  save  this 
ruined  humanitv  that  Christ  came.     And  ere  the  babe  had  seen 


60  My  Trip  to  the  Orip]Nt. 

the  light  of  a  single  day,  the  announcement  was  made,  "Peace 
on  earth,  and  good  will  to  men." 

But  to  return  to  the  building.  It  would  seem  that  human  in- 
genuity could  not  have  devised  a  more  stable  structure  of  its  size 
than  this.  And  yet  here  it  is,  in  ruins.  The  secret  is,  that  its 
walls  have  been  torn  down,  and  its  ornamental  columns  have 
been  removed  with  which  to  build  other  houses.  Palaces  and 
churches  have  been  constructed  out  of  the  material  taken  from 
this  mighty  building.  In  it  was  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  of 
Jesus,  and  this  blood,  like  the  blood  of  Abel,  seems  to  have  cried 
from  the  ground.  And  God  and  man  have  been  against  it. 
More  than  once  it  has  been  shaken  and  rent  by  earthquakes. 
And  barbarians  and  Christians  have  each,  in  turn,  taken  a  hand 
in  destroying  it,  until  one  of  the  popes  set  up  a  number  of  shrines 
in  it,  and  thus  made  it  a  sacred  spot. 

At  least  one  third  of  the  building  is  gone,  while  of  the  thousands 
of  marble  columns  with  which  it  was  adorned,  not  a  single  entire 
one  is  left. 

TRIUMPHAL  ARCHES. 

Near  the  Colosseum  is  the  Arch  of  Constantine.  It  stands  di- 
rectly over  the  Appian  Way,  and  is  in  a  fine  state  of  preserva- 
tion. 

But  what  interested  me  most  was  the  Arch  of  Titus,  erected  on 
the  Via  Sacra,  or  "sacred  way,"  to  celebrate  his  victory  over 
Jerusalem,  in  that  most  memorable  of  sieges.  While  other  mem- 
bers of  our  party  were  talking  of  this  or  that,  caUing  attention  to 
the  grand  views  from  this  point,  I  was  lost  in  contemplation  of 
the  figures  in  bas-relief  chiseled  on  its  walls,  especially  the  figure 
of  the  golden  candlestick  taken  from  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem. 
We  are  told  that  this  is  the  only  representation  of  this  candle- 
stick in  the  world.  All  others  are  but  copies  of  this  one.  Titus 
brought  it  with  him  as  one  of  the  trophies  of  his  victory.  What 
ever  became  of  it  no  one  knows.  One  of  the  legends  concerning 
it  is,  that  it  was  thrown  into  the  Tiber  to  save  it  from  the  hands 
of  the  invader.  Beyond  this  arch  the  Via  Sacra  leads  through 
the  Basilica  of  Julian  up  to  the  Temple  of  Jupiter.  For  ages 
these  historic  buildings  have  been  covered  with  an  accumulation 
of  earth  and  detritus  to  the  depth  of  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet. 


My  Trip  to  tiik  ()|{ii:nt.  61 

This  is  now  being  removed.  The  locations  of  these  buildings 
have  been  discovered  and  their  forms  determined,  for  long  lines 
of  parts  of  columns  of  the  most  beautiful  pattern  have  Vjeen  un- 
covered. The  day  we  were  there,  men  were  at  work  removing 
the  covering  of  earth  that  has  hidden  away  and  preserved  these 
remnants  of  Rome's  greatest  structures. 

Of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  three  unbroken  columns  remain.  In 
this  temple  is  a  platform,  where  sat  the  highest  in  authority,  and 
to  whom  the  conquerors  came  with  the  spoils  of  their  victory, 
and  from  whom  they  received  the  highest  honors.  The  Temple 
of  Saturn  was  not  far  off.  Eight  pillars  of  this  building  still 
stand.  Near-by  is  the  Temple  of  Castor  and  Pollux,  with  its 
three  pillars.  These  pillars  are  considered  the  most  beautiful  in 
Rome.  This  temple  was  erected  at  the  fount  Juturna,  where  the 
brothers  Castor  and  Pollux  watered  their  horses  when  they  an- 
nounced the  victory  of  Lake  Regulus  to  the  Romans.  Over  the 
fountain  stand  figures  of  two  colossal  horses,  led  by  men  of  equal 
proportions,  to  represent  these  brothers. 

We  were  shown  the  spot  where  Romulus  and  Remus  had  their 
contention  about  the  height  of  the  walls  of  Rome,  which  ended  in 
the  death  of  Remus. 

A  live  wolf  is  kept  near  the  capital;  also  an  eagle.  I  saw  the 
wolf.  He  is  a  fine,  large  one.  In  the  same  inclosure  is  a  monu- 
ment to  the  memory  of  Rienzi,  the  last  of  the  tribunes.  On  this 
spot  he  was  addressing  the  people,  although  advised  not  to  ven- 
ture among  them,  when  he  was  slain. 

I  have  not  the  time  to  write  of  the  many  objects  of  interest 
shown  me.  Among  them,  however,  I  will  mention  a  very  large 
bath  of  porphyry,  which  belonged  to  Nero.  It  was  dug  up  from 
the  ruins  of  his  palace. 

I  visited  the  celebrated  Mamertine  prison,  where,  tradition  tells 
us,  St.  Paul  and  St.  Peter  were  imprisoned.  It  may  be  that  the 
former  was.  But  two  churches  have  been  built  over  it;  one  above 
the  other.  And  while  it  is  a  veritable  prison,  dismal  enough  for 
any  age,  yet  the  whole  thing  may  have  been  altered  to  suit  the 
notion  of  some  one  who  lived  long  after  the  time  of  the  Apostles. 

We  visited  church  after  church,  until  I  began  to  tire  of  it.  But 
our  guide  took  us  to  the  Church  of  St.  John,  This  is  one  of  the 
most  important  churches  in  Rome,  from  the  fact  that  in  it  all 


62  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

cardinals  are  elected,  and  from  the  front  piazza  the  proclamation 
of  a  new  pope  is  first  made.  And  my  understanding  was  that 
popes  are  elected  only  in  this  building. 

Of  course  we  visited  the  celebrated  "  Scala  Sancta,"  or  flight  of 
twenty-eight  steps,  said  to  have  been  brought  from  "  Pilate's  house 
in  Jerusalem,  specially  venerated  because  Jesus  Christ  is  said  to 
have  ascended  and  descended  them,  bathing  them  in  his  blood." 
Whether  there  be  any  truth  in  this  story  or  not,  there  is  no  mis- 
take of  their  veneration  and  use.  You  remember  that  Martin 
Luther,  when  he  was  seeking  justification,  came  to  these  stairs, 
and,  as  was  required  then,  as  now,  commenced  their  ascent  on 
his  knees.  He  climbed  the  stone  steps.  But  these  stones  have 
been  so  worn  by  the  knees  of  the  penitent,  and  those  seeking  in- 
dulgences, that  they  had  to  cover  them  with  wood. 

I  stood  at  the  foot  of  these  stairs  and  counted  fourteen  slowly 
climbing  them  on  their  knees.  All  were  women,  except  one,  who 
seemed  to  be  a  mere  lad. 

They  would  come  in,  reverently  fall  upon  their  knees  on  the 
lowest  step,  remain  in  prayer  for  at  least  a  minute,  and  then,  still 
on  their  knees,  climb  to  the  next.  It  is  said  that  he  who  climbs 
these  stairs  on  his  knees,  repeating  the  required  prayers,  will 
have  indulgence  for  a  thousand  years. 

OK,  how  my  heart  bled  for  these  poor  deluded  creatures,  when 
I  knew  there  was  One  then  able  and  willing  to  speak  their  sins 
forgiven  in  a  moment.     "For  the  just  shall  live  by  faith." 

But  I  must  desist.  I  suppose  there  is  not  a  cit}'  in  the  world 
that  is  better  supplied  with  water  than  the  city  of  Rome.  Foun- 
tains pour  out  their  wealth  of  water  on  every  hand.  The  ruins  of 
the  old  Roman  aqueduct  challenge  the  admiration  and  wonder  of 
architects  of  the  present  dav,  while  the  aqueduct  that  supplies 
the  city  at  present  would  do  honor  to  an}^  city.  The  fountains 
of  which  we  have  spoken  are  all  of  the  most  beautiful  kind. 
Many  of  them  are  composed  of  marble  statues  of  men,  and 
animals  of  various  kinds.  Almost  any  one  of  the  larger  ones 
wastes  enough  water  in  the  twenty-four  hours  to  supply  a  small 
city. 

The  last  afternoon  in  Rome,  we  took  a  drive  on  one  of  the  hills 
above  the  city,  on  the  western  side.  As  the  sun  was  sinking,  he 
lit  up  the  sides  of  the  houses  next  to  us,  and  presented  a  picture 


My  Trii'  to  thk  Oriknt.  (JS 

that  will  lono-  linger  in  my  memory.  We  looked  over  on  tlie 
original  "seven  hills,"  on  which  the  city  is  built.  But  the  space 
■encompassed  in  these  seven  hills  cannot  now  contain  the  four 
hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  and  they  have  taken  in  other 
hills.  We  drove  by  the  splendid  monument  erected  to  the  ra(;m- 
•ory  of  Garibaldi.  The  spot  where  it  stands  is  well  chosen.  On 
this  drive  we  visited  the  house  in  which  Tasso  lived  and  died.  I 
stood  beneath  the  oak,  that  is  carefully  preserved,  beneath  which 
he  wrote  his  celebrated  poem,  "Jerusalem  Delivered."  I  have 
ever  been  an  admirer  of  Tasso,  and  I  felt  a  peculiar  thrill  as  I 
stood  where  he  had  often  stood,  and  visited  his  burial-place  under 
the  altar  at  which  he  worshiped. 


64  My  Trip  to  thk  Orient. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

Naples  —  Pompeii  —  Macaroni  —  Island  of  Capri  —  Blue  Grotto — Beg- 
(iARS  —  Patras —  Milking  Croats. 

NAPLES. 

There  were  other  things  that  I  desired  to  see  in  Rome.  But 
our  plan  led  us  next  to  Naples. 

There  is  a  direct  line  of  railroad  between  Rome  and  Naples.. 
But,  a  few  days  before  our  leaving  Rome,  an  avalanche  of  earth 
had  completely  blocked  the  way.  So  we  took  another  road  to 
the  east,  and  then  took  carriages  and  drove  over  the  Apennine 
Mountains,  striking  the  road  on  the  west  side,  below  the  obstruc- 
tion. 

This  was  a  most  delightful  drive  amid  the  olive  orchards 
and  vineyards,  that  abound  all  over  Italy.  We  also  had  the 
privilege  of  seeing  the  people  in  the  country,  and  of  observing^ 
their  customs. 

We  reached  Naples  about  night,  and  were  surprised  to  find 
that  it  had  two  hundred  thousand  more  inhabitants  than  Rome,, 
and  that  the  business  of  the  i)lace  was  very  much  greater. 

The  night  we  arrived,  we  had  one  of  the  most  terrific  thunder- 
storms to  pass  over  the  city  that  it  has  been  my  pleasure  to  listen 
to  in  many  a  day.  For  half  an  hour  there  was  not  an  interval 
of  darkness  between  the  vivid  flashes  of  lightning,  and  the  thunder 
was  one  continued  roar,  with  an  occasional  peal  that  shook  the 
very  earth.  We  had  a  similar  storm  while  in  Rome,  but  it  was 
not  so  severe.  I  enjoyed  the  music  of  the  thunder  wonderfully. 
I  have  always  loved  to  hear  it  thunder.  When  l)ut  a  child,  there 
was  no  music  so  attractive,  and  I  find  that  my  long  residence  in 
California,  where  we  but  seldom  hear  it,  has  not  destroyed  my 
love  for  it. 

Our  first  trip  at  Naples  was  to  the  ruins  of  Pompeii.  An  hour's 
run  by  rail  brought  us  to  the  foot  of  Mount  Vesuvius,  from  whose 
top  rolled  out  great  volumes  of  smoke.     Immediately  over  the 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  65 

crater  the  smoke  was  red,  as  it  was  lit  up  by  the  fires  within  the 
crater. 

We  first  passed  the  site  of  Herculaneum.  This  buried  city 
lies  nearer  the  base  of  Vesuvius  than  does  Pompeii,  but  researches 
have  been  confined  mainly  to  the  latter.  On  arriving  at  the 
station,  we  were  immediately  conducted  into  the  exhumed  city. 
We  were  first  shown  some  of  the  things  of  interest  taken  from  the 
ruins.  We  saw  the  bodies  of  a  number  of  men  and  women,  just 
in  the  position  in  which  the  volcanic  storm  overtook  them.  In 
almost  every  instance  the  men  had  money-belts  around  their 
bodies.  We  saw  the  body  of  a  poor  dog  all  doubled  up  as  if  in  a 
death  agony.  We  were  shown  loaves  of  bread  taken  from  an  oven. 
It  was  badly  burned.  But  the  poor  man  or  woman  who  put  it  to 
bake  had  no  opportunity  of  taking  it  from  the  oven  when  it  was 
done,  and  so  it  burned  to  a  coal.  We  saw  the  oven  from  which 
it  was  taken,  when  passing  through  the  city. 

The  streets  were  all  well  paved,  with  neat  sidewalks  on  each 
side.  Most  of  the  streets  were  quite  narrow,  and  in  many  of  them 
deep  ruts  were  worn  in  the  solid  stone  pavements,  by  the  wheels 
of  the  carriages.  These  streets  were  just  wide  enough  between 
the  sidewalks  for  a  carriage  to  pass,  and  as  a  consequence  the 
wheels  always  ran  in  the  same  places.  There  was  no  such  thing 
as  two  carriages  passing  each  other  in  the  streets.  This  had  to 
be  done  at  the  crossings  of  streets.  There  were  no  animals  used, 
but  two  slaves  drew  the  carriages.  At  frequent  intervals  there 
were  stepping-stones  near  the  crossings  of  the  streets,  that  stood 
up  even  with  the  sidewalks,  for  the  convenience  of  pedestrians  in 
crossing  the  streets.  The  carriages  had  to  straddle  these  stones. 
In  one  of  the  main  streets  stood  a  fountain  surrounded  by  a 
square  marble  coping  about  three  feet  high.  On  one  side,  raised 
above  this  coping,  was  the  figure  of  a  man,  from  whose  mouth  the 
water  flowed.  So  popular  was  this  drinking-place,  and  so  fre- 
quently was  it  used,  that  a  place  was  worn  in  the  stone  where  the 
drinker  placed  his  hand  when  he  leaned  over  to  put  his  mouth  to 
the  mouth  of  the  fountain,  and  all  the  mouth,  and  part  of  the 
nose  of  the  marble  figure,  were  worn  away  by  the  lips  of  the 
thirsty  multitudes  that  drank  at  it.  I  could  hardly  believe  this, 
had  I  not  seen  it  with  my  own  eyes,  and  had  I  not  seen  the  bronze 
toes  of  the  statue  of  St.  Peter  kissed  away  by  the  lips  of  the  faith- 
ful. 


66  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

For  more  than  an  hour  we  were  conducted  from  street  to  street. 
and  from  house  to  house,  by  our  guide.  One  thing  impressed 
me.  It  was  the  distinctness  of  colors  and  shapes  of  the  frescoing 
on  the  walls  of  the  houses.  We  went  into  one  house  that  was 
evidently  the  home  of  a  rich  man.  The  floors  were  laid  in  mosaic 
of  the  most  beautiful  and  delicate  pattern,  while  the  frescoing  on 
the  walls  was  beautiful.  The  objects  pictured  on  the  walls  of  the 
dining-room  were  unique  and  appetizing.  They  consisted  of 
little  winged  figures  like  cupids,  —  some  baking,  some  brewing, 
some  gathering  grapes  and  pressing  wine, —  all  actively  engaged 
at  something.  These  figures  were  in  colors  on  a  black  back- 
ground, that  brought  them  out  very  distinctly. 

The  bath-rooms  were  very  luxurious.  They  evidently  were 
prepared  to  give  either  warm  or  cold  baths.  There  was  a  public 
bath-house,  with  the  tub  about  twelve  feet  in  diameter  and  nearly 
three  deep,  let  into  the  floor.  There  were  four  niches  in  the 
walls,  evidently  for  dressing-rooms. 

The  bath-room  for  ladies  adjoined,  but  there  was  no  com- 
munication between  them.     Each  had  a  set  of  furnaces. 

The  amphitheater  is  very  similar  in  shape  and  arrangements 
to  those  seen  in  Rome,  Athens,  and  elsewhere.  The  arena  is  cir- 
cular, while  the  seats  rise  in  circular  form  round  about  it.  It 
has  been  estimated  that  this  one  would  comfortably  seat  twelve 
thousand  eight  hundred  spectators.  It  is  in  a  fine  state  of  preser- 
vation. 

The  signs  of  the  different  craftsmen  were  worked  into  the  outer 
walls  of  the  houses.  For  instance,  a  square  of  mosaic,  a  foot  or 
eighteen  inches  square,  indicated  that  this  work  was  done  within. 
A  hardware  merchant  had  knives,  reap-hooks,  scissors,  etc.,  on 
his  sign. 

A  triangular  forum  or  temple  is  indicated  by  rows  of  broken 
columns,  platforms,  and  other  objects. 

The  citizens  of  Pompeii  were  evidently  fond  of  sports.  Besides 
the  amphitheater  spoken  of,  they  had  a  tragic  theater,  containing 
twenty-eight  tiers  of  seats,  that  would  hold  five  thousand  specta- 
tors; also,  a  comic  theatre,  that  would  seat  fifteen  hundred  people, 
and  a  place  surrounded  by  a  colonnade,  used  for  gladiatorial 
contests. 

So  these  rocks,  wrought  into  theaters  and  places  of  amusement, 


M  'S-    Till  P    T O    T 1 1  10    <  )  K 1 10  N  T .  67 

like  a  book  that   has  been  closed  for   multiplied  centuries,  now 
thrown  wide  open,  tell  of  the  folly  of  tliis  peoi)le. 

There  are  things  portrayed  on  the  walls  of  some  of  their  houses, 
of  which  we  cannot  speak,  that  reveal  to  us  the  fact  that  society 
among  these  people  was  rotten  to  tlie  core.  And  doubtless  their 
sins,  like  those  of  the  cities  of  the  jdain,  smelled  unto  heaven, 
and  brought  the  swift  judgment  of  God  ui)on  them. 

And  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Abraham:  "And  he  looked  toward 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  toward  all  the  land  of  tlic  plain,  and 
beheld,  and,  lo,  the  smoke  of  the  country  went  uj)  as  the  smoke 
of  a  furnace." 

So  old  Vesuvius,  as  the  instrument  in  God's  hand,  still  sends 
up  his  smoke,  "like  the  smoke  of  a  furnace,"  to  tell  us  of  the 
power  and  of  the  righteous  indignation  of  God,  —  an  emblem, — 
as  Jude  expresses  it,  "an  example,  suffering  the  vengeance  of 
eternal  fire." 

Great  beds  of  lava  from  the  lips  of  the  crater  to  the  sea  still  lie 
incrusting  the  mountain  to  its  base.  And  yet  on  this  very  lava 
towns  are  built,  and  people  live  as  careless  as  did  the  inhabitants 
of  Pompeii. 

I  stood  near  the  thick  coating  of  earth  and  ashes  with  which 
the  city  has  been  covered  for  centuries,  but  now  being  removed, 
and  thought  how  wonderfully  God  has  kept  his  secrets  until  now, 
and  what  careful  hands  he  has  employed  to  reveal  them. 

Our  stay  in  Naples  was  so  short,  we  did  not  have  time  to  visit 
the  museum  in  which  are  laid  up  the  choisest  treasures  of 
Pompeii.  But  on  our  return  we  have  promised  to  look  farther, 
and  perhaps  to  climb  Vesuvius  itself. 

As  we  approached  Pompeii,  our  guide  pointed  out  the  factories 
where  the  great  body  of  macaroni  is  manufactured.  Tons  upon 
tons  of  it  are  turned  out  here  every  year.  He  gave  me  the  his- 
tory of  its  name. 

A  certain  king,  that  had  more  food  than  appetite,  sent  his  ser- 
vant to  the  market  to  get  sometliing  very  nice.  He  came  back 
with  a  lot  of  hollow  noodles.  When  asked  about  them,  he  said, 
"It  cost  very  dear."  (Of  course  speaking  in  Italian.)  The  sen- 
tence sounds  like  "macaroni."  And  that  gave  name  to  this 
Italian  delicacy,  that  is  known  round  the  world. 

One  afternoon.  Brother  Pepper  and  I  drove  to  the  outskirts  of 


68  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

Naples.  As  we  stood  upon  a  hill  overlooking  the  Mediterranean, 
we  saw  a  little  village  lying  at  the  mouth  of  a  small  stream.  On 
asking  its  name,  were  told  that  it  was  Puteoli,  the  place  where 
Paul  first  set  his  foot  on  Italian  soil,  after  his  tempestuous  voyage. 

Luke  tells  us:  "And  we  came  the  next  day  to  Puteoli,  where 
we  found  brethren,  and  were  desired  to  tarry  with  them  seven 
days;  and  so  we  went  toward  Rome." 

It  is  a  very  small  place.  I  suppose  no  larger  than  when  Paul 
landed  there. 

While  in  Naples  we  made  an  excursion  by  a  little  steainer  to 
the  island  of  Capri,  that  lies  in  the  mouth  of  the  Bay  of  Naples. 

The  Bay  of  Naples  is  a  perfect  picture  of  beauty.  The  water 
is  remarkably  clear,  and  the  most  beautiful  blue,  often  shading 
into  emerald  in  the  most  wonderful  manner.  We  first  steamed 
across  to  the  old  town  of  Sorrento,  the  birthplace  of  the  poet 
Tasso;  then  to  Capri.  This  island  was  a  favorite  with  Tiberius 
Caesar.  Here  he  built  a  palace  on  the  brow  of  a  high  hill.  Some 
of  the  old  walls  and  the  ruins  of  the  palace  are  still  there.  On  a 
point  jutting  out  into  the  sea  is  a  fort,  from  which,  it  is  said, 
Tiberius  at  one  time  had  a  number  of  slaves  thrown.  The  preci- 
pice is  several  hundred  feet  high.  It  is  also  related,  in  connection 
with  this  event,  that  he  had  men  stationed  at  the  foot  of  the  cliff 
with  clubs,  so  that  if  any  of  the  unfortunate  slaves  should  survive 
the  fall,  they  might  dispatch  them. 

We,  in  our  day  of  enlightment,  can  hardly  realize  that  a  mon- 
ster of  such  cruelty  would  be  suffered  to  live. 

A  more  beautiful  spot  than  this  island  it  is  hard  to  find.  It  is 
covered  with  grape-vines  and  olive  trees;  and  the  most  charming 
views  are  to  be  had  from  a  thousand  points  of  observation. 
"  Every  prospect  pleases,  and  only  man  is  vile." 

One  object  in  our  coming  to  this  island  was  to  visit  the  cele- 
brated "  Blue  Grotto."  This  grotto  is  entered  by  boats  from  the 
sea.  The  opening  is  very  small,  —  just  large  enough  to  admit  of 
a  row-boat.  We  had  to  lie  flat  down  on  the  bottom  of  the  boat 
as  we  passed  in.  But  when  inside,  as  soon  as  our  eyes  could 
accommodate  themselves  to  the  subdued  light  that  came  only  by 
the  little  orifice  through  which  we  entered,  and  under  the  sea,  we 
found  ourselves  in  a  most  beautiful  grotto.  The  height  of  the  in- 
terior is  forty-one  feet,  with  nearly  fifty  feet  of  water.     It  is  100 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  69 

feet  by  175  feet.  The  water  is  of  the  most  dehcate  hght  blue  I 
ever  beheld.  You  feel  as  if  you  were  in  an  enchanted  cave. 
There  is  a  sort  of  weird,  uncanny  appearance  al)out  the  whole 
thing,  that  strikes  you  with  awe.  The  peculiar  color  of  the  water, 
as  reflected  to  the  ceiling  and  in  the  faces  of  your  companions,  is 
remarkable. 

I  tried  to  divine  the  cause  of  this  strange  color  given  to  the 
water,  and  my  theory  is,  that  it  is  caused  by  refraction.  The 
opening  to  the  grotto  above  the  water  is  too  small  to  admit  enough 
hght  to  illuminate  the  cave,  and  the  water  being  deep  and  clear, 
the  light  comes  up,  as  it  were,  from  below,  and  the  rays,  being 
deflected,  or  bent,  give  to  it  its  peculiar  color.  A  copper  coin 
was  thrown  into  the  water,  and  a  boy  dived  after  it.  His  body, 
as  he  went  down,  had  a  strange  silvery  appearance.  We  could 
see  him  distinctly  more  than  ten  feet  under  water.  He  caught 
the  copper,  and  brought  it  in  triumph  to  the  surface. 

Our  return  trip  across  the  bay  was  one  long  to  be  remembered. 
Vesuvius  stood  before  us  in  all  his  grandeur.  Not  a  cloud  flecked 
the  sky.  But  great  volumes  of  smoke  rose  out  of  the  crater  of 
the  volcano  and  rolled  in  white  billows  away  to  the  south,  while 
Naples  and  the  surburban  villages  lay  like  a  coral  reef  along  the 
circling  shore  at  its  base.  I  stood  on  the  deck  of  the  vessel  for 
more  than  an  hour  and  watched  the  smoke  as  it  boiled  out  of  the 
mountain  and  drifted  away. 

Of  all  the  cities  we  have  visited,  Naples  reveals  to  us  the  most 
beggars.  From  little  children,  to  the  old  and  decrepit,  they 
stretch  out  their  hands  and  beg.  One  little  rascal,  not  more  than 
six  years  old,  with  doleful  look  shook  an  armless  sleeve  to  reveal 
his  misfortune  and  claim  our  pity.  But  when  we  took  hold  of 
him,  found  the  lost  arm  inside  his  shirt.  He  only  laughed  at  our 
discovery,  and  continued  to  beg.  Boys  would  trot  along  beside 
our  carriages  and  turn  handspring  after  handspring,  and  rush  up 
with  confidence  for  the  reward  of  their  agility.  Twelve-year-old 
girls  would  run  for  half  a  mile  by  us,  begging  for  a  centime  (the 
fifth  of  a  cent).  We  could  enter  no  church  or  public  place  with- 
out having  hands  thrust  under  our  noses,  with  an  appeal  for 
money. 

We  left  Naples  on  the  west  for  Brindisi  on  the  east  side  of  the 
peninsula  of  Italy.     It  was  an  all-day  run,  though  it  was  less 


70  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

than  one  hundred  miles.  There  is  no  rush  or  hurry  here,  either 
by  rail  or  any  other  way.  Our  road  passed  over  and  under  the 
Apennines.  We  were  scarcely  out  of  one  tunnel  until  we  were  in 
another.  They  kept  lights  burninp;  in  the  car  all  the  while.  We 
were  in  one  tunnel  three  quarters  of  an  hour.  Brindisi  is  a  very 
old  town,  and  is  the  terminus  of  the  celebrated  Appian  Way,  that 
starts  at  Rome,  made  memorable  by  its  connection  with  the  his- 
tory of  the  Apostle  Paul.  We  had  only  a  few  hours  in  Brindisi, 
but  we  went  in  search  of  Virgil's  Column,  erected  here  in  mem- 
ory of  this  greatest  of  the  Latin  poets.  We  saw  the  building  in 
which  he  died,  and  the  modest  but  beautiful  shaft  near-by,  that 
an  appreciative  people  have  erected  to  his  memory.  His  body 
lies  at  Naples. 

PATRAS. 

The  day  after  leaving  Brindisi,  we  landed  at  Patras.  We  were 
now  in  classic  Greece,  and  could  look  in  no  direction  without  see- 
ing something  historic,  something  that  would  call  up  names  and 
places  made  familiar  in  our  school  days. 

Right  across  the  bay  was  the  battle-field  of  Missolonghi,  on 
which  Marcos  Bozzaris  was  killed.  There  Lord  Byron  fought. 
There  he  was  taken  sick  and  died.  His  heart  was  taken  out  and 
buried  on  the  battle-field,  where  he  fought,  but  his  body  was 
taken  to  England  and  buried  near  Newstead  Abbey,  as  they  re- 
fused it  a  place  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

We  landed  at  Patras,  where  we  spent  several  hours.  I  was 
astonished  at  the  great  trade  in  what  they  call  currants,  but  they 
are  small  seedless  grapes;  for  I  examined  them,  and  was  after- 
wards permitted  to  see  them  as  they  were  spread  out  to  dry,  at 
Corinth,  where  the  great  body  of  them  is  grown.  They  pack 
them  in  boxes,  in  barrels,  and  in  bags.  I  passed  by  scores  of 
houses  where  men,  women,  and  children  were  cleaning,  picking, 
and  sorting  them.  I  went  into  some  of  these  houses  and  was 
shown  every  courtesy,  and  everything  explained  to  me  that  could 
be  made  by  signs;  for  I  could  not  speak  Greek,  and  they  could 
not  speak  English.  I  went  down  to  the  wharf  and  saw  great 
numbers  of  ships  loading  with  them.  We  reached  Greece  just  in 
the  height  of  the  grape  and  wine  season.  It  is  the  first  place  I 
ever  saw  where  the  grapes  are  equal  to  our  California  grapes. 


My  Tkii'  to  the  Orient.  71 

They  seem  to  have  none  but  the  choicest  varieties,  and  thes  ■  were 
in  great  perfection.  Most  of  their  vines  are  trimmed  low,  as 
ours.     But  certain  varieties  are  trained  on  poles  or  trellises. 

I  have  seen  tliousands  of  goat-skin  bottles  tilled  with  wine. 
These  skins  have  the  hair  taken  off  with  lime,  and  the  skin  is  then 
turned  inside  out,  and  is  ready  to  fill.  We  saw  hundreds  of  carts 
filled  with  these  skins.  At  one  station  there  were  at  least  five 
hundred  empty  casks  strung  along  the  side  of  the  track.  Men 
would  drive  their  carts  up,  take  out  a  skin,  and,  putting  the  neck 
to  the  bung-hole,  let  the  wine  run  in.  Every  night,  while  in 
Athens,  we  could  hear  the  carts  going  by  the  hotel,  at  all  hours 
of  the  night.  I  suppose  they  haul  them  largely  at  night  because 
of  the  greater  danger  of  heating  and  fermenting  in  the  day. 
Nearly  everybody,  I  am  told,  drinks  wine  at  their  meals,  and, 
strange  to  say,  there  are  but  few  drunkards  in  Greece.  Donkeys 
are  very  largely  used  here,  both  in  Italy  and  in  Greece.  Some 
of  them  are  very  small,  but  they  carry  enormous  loads.  I  have 
seen  six  baskets,  holding  over  a  half-bushel  each,  on  one  little 
donkey.  You  could  only  see  his  little  slender  legs,  his  head,  and 
tail.  Then  I  have  seen  a  load  of  wood  as  big  as  himself  piled 
up  on  him.  And  these  patient  little  creatures  have  to  stand  all 
day  in  the  streets  until  their  load  is  sold. 


MILKING    GOATS. 

Goat's  milk  is  so  universally  used,  that  if  you  want  cow's 
milk,  you  have  to  call  for  it  by  name.  Nearly  all  the  butter  used 
is  made  from  goat's  milk.  I  found  both  the  milk  and  butter 
good. 

You  can  see  a  man  with  a  lot  of  milk-measures  driving  ten  or 
a  dozen  goats  through  the  streets.  When  he  reaches  the  house 
of  a  customer,  he  squats  behind  a  nanny-goat  and  milks  the  re- 
quired amount,  and  drives  on  to  the  next.  All  the  goats  while 
in  town  are  muzzled,  —  I  suppose  to  keep  them  from  foraging. 

Nearly  all  the  Greeks  dress  in  American  style,  though  a  few  of 
them  cling  to  the  old  form  of  dress.  They  have  a  skirt  like  a  wide 
frill  reaching  from  the  waist  to  the  knees,  usually  of  some  light 
white  cloth.  This  frill  is  wrapped  round  and  round  the  waist  un- 
til it  is  eight  or  ten  inches  thick.     Being  so  thick,  and  frilled  all 


v- 


urav- 


imnidi.     HtTt  ire 

-  -  -  ' '  'A  tlBsai*  TajHies 

:^«^iara.    Bipe  «diires  axe  MStd 
IT  onee  seera  a  green  <£ve^ 


My    TeTP   to   the    0RIE3fT. 


CHAPTEE   V. 

AxHEss  —  McsEcx — AcaaeotB — Bcos  or  Texfue  or  B^mxhcs — TwxriM 

or  Sjk3^lapies — TESsnxar  Mesista — Teb  fjkaeraxsfxt — TmmriM,  or 
MxarBSEEs — Wdcb'^bii^ — Texfue  ow  Tfas  Wmie — Kne  Gnsmea?M 
Paijoe — CoBDnH — &r.  Pacx. 


--—::_  lake  a  Tolrnne  to  desczibe  even 

-:         '  -  :  ;7   -  inypw:;    ;  __      ■       -       .    ^t  tXi^ititi:-;  i- :-^ 

-idll  not  ^low  them  to  take  any  aichjBo- 

7:  must  be  put  in  fJiis  Mnsemn,  whose 

;  lies  or  casts  mar  be  naa/ie.  huX  iLe 


—  -     i  1   jirre  to-day.     7 

:  rk  by  er  r         . 

..-     -  -_  ..  -  :_..    .iryattL. 
terr.    I:  is  of  white  marble,  irith  1±t 

ther  things  in  tiie  ' 
jraTes  of  the  he: 
S£SL,  bat  per :' 
"   _  :  !"Jin2  them  ~ 

PurTr  —  :t  IT   ^Taeots  of  the  skeletons  of  solidiers  - 

oians  and  Maeedonii.    -  ^.  •_.     ^  ^i= 

:ii  net  preserratitMi  erf  tL- 

It  is  w  nnmb@s  (rf  pore  gold  omamenis  -wex 

.  -es.  In  one  case  there  wi- 
:jrge  cope  and  rases  ol  f .  - 
- .  such  as  TiTngst  ses  with  jewels,  and 

-  r--^^  ^:  :;:r_-i>.  a-:  -     Bat,  to  me,  one  <rf:'  -  -       iik- 


74  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

able  objects  in  the  Museum  was  from  Egypt.  It  was  the  figure 
of  a  kneeling  woman  kneading  bread  in  a  tray,  made  of  one  piece 
of  wood.  This  was  made  three  thousand  years  before  Christ,  and 
was  in  a  perfect  state  of  preservation.  The  pose  was  most  life- 
like.    I  think  it  was  made  of  a  piece  of  sycamore. 

In  the  afternoon  we  visited  the  Acropolis.  It  is  on  the  summit 
of  a  very  high  hill,  and  evidently  was  once  in  the  very  heart  of 
Athens.  The  ruins  on  and  about  this  hill  are  wonderful  in  their 
extent  and  interest.  On  one  side  is  the  Temple  of  Bacchus, 
called  by  the  Athenians  Dionysos.  In  one  end  are  great  slabs  of 
white  marble,  on  which,  in  bas-relief,  is  Bacchus,  with  his  beastly 
face,  surrounded  by  clusters  of  grapes,  dancing  figures  of  nymphs, 
and  other  symbols  of  drunkenness  and  revelry.  It  is  said  that 
here  was  the  beginning  of  the  theater.  The  country  people  came 
in  to  bring  their  offering  to  Bacchus,  who,  as  they  thought,  had 
blessed  their  vines,  and  simple  plays  were  gotten  up  for  their 
entertainment.  Ranged  around  the  platform  are  circular  seats  of 
marble,  rising  one  above  another.  It  is  wonderful  how  well  pre- 
served these  seats  are.  They  would  do  to  use  now.  In  no  coun- 
try of  the  world  is  marble  so  perfect  and  so  plentiful  as  here  and 
in  Italy.  And  in  no  country  are  statues  so  abundant  as  here. 
They  are  in,  around,  and  often  upon,  every  church  and  public 
building,  in  all  the  hotels,  and  in  very  many  private  houses.  In 
all  the  l)uried  cities,  they  have  been  dug  up  by  scores.  And  even 
in  the  graveyards  of  the  present  day,  statues  abound. 

Hard-by  the  Temple  of  Bacchus,  on  the  same  side  of  the 
Acropolis,  is  the  Temple  of  ^Esculapius.  Here  were  the  rooms 
for  the  sick  and  disabled,  who  came  to  him  for  healing.  An  im- 
mense drain  led  from  these  rooms  to  the  Ilissus  River,  not  far  off, 
showing  that  this  first  great  doctor  of  the  Greeks  used  much  water 
in  his  practice.  And  some  of  the  cures  reported  of  him  evinced 
a  strong  element  of  faith,  showing  that  our  Christian  scientists 
and  faith  healers  were  anticipated  by  this  celebrated  Greek  physi- 
cian, who  flourished  and  plied  his  art  long  before  Christ,  and  who 
was  deified  for  his  skill  and  hurnbuggery. 

The  Acropolis  towers  above  the  city  of  Athens,  and  is  crowned 
by  the  ruins  of  splendid  temples  and  other  public  edifices.  I  feel 
that  I  am  totally  inadequate  to  describe  even  the  ruins  of  this 
renowned  hill.     Take,  for  instance,  the  Temple  of  Minerva,  some 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  77 

of  the  columns  of  which  are  yet  standing.  Originally,  there  were 
seventeen  on  each  side  and  eight  on  the  ends.  Those  standing 
were  fluted.  At  the  base  they  were  six  feet  two  inches  in  diameter. 
The  area  of  the  building  inclosed  by  these  columns  was  227  feet 
by  110  feet.  The  main  room  held  the  statue  of  Minerva,  forty 
feet  in  height,  made  of  ivory  and  gold.  The  frieze  round  the  tem- 
ple was  554  feet,  on  which  were  chiseled  figures  in  white  marble, 
representing  scenes  in  the  history  of  Greece,  where  Minerva  was 
supposed  to  have  helped  them. 

To  the  southwest  from  the  main  building  is  the  Temple  of  Ap- 
teros,  or  "  Wingless  Victory,"  —  the  meaning  was,  that  the  victory 
of  the  Athenians  was  to  be  perpetual.  Being  wingless,  it  could 
not  fly  from  them.  In  this  temple,  Athene,  who  was  the 
goddess  of  Athens,  was  worshiped  as  the  Goddess  of  Victory. 
This  temple  is  in  quite  a  good  state  of  preservation,  owing,  I 
think,  to  the  fact,  incidentally  related  to  us  by  the  guide,  that 
while  the  Acropolis  was  in  possession  of  the  Turks  in  later  years, 
they  made  a  powder-magazine  of  the  Temple  of  Minerva.  A  well- 
directed  shell  from  the  enemy  exploded  the  magazine,  and 
wrecked  the  main  building.  This  little  temple  was  detached 
from  the  main  building,  hence  did  not  receive  the  shock  of  this 
explosion.  This,  however,  is  a  mere  conjecture  of  mine,  on  view- 
ing the  situation. 

On  this  hill,  Greece  seems  to  have  lavished  both  her  wealth  and 
her  skill.  The  Parthenon,  that  crowned  it,  must  have  been  the 
grandest  building  either  in  ancient  or  in  modern  times.  Enough 
has  been  left,  taken  with  the  descriptions  given  by  those  who  saw 
it  in  its  perfection,  to  form  a  very  correct  idea  of  its  form  and  its 
beauty.  It  was  erected  by  Pericles,  444-436  B.  C,  and  cost  twenty- 
five  million  dollars,  in  our  money.  The  architects  were  Callicrates 
and  Ictinus;  the  sculptors,  Pheidias  and  his  pupils.  The  building 
was  227  by  110  feet.  The  Doric  columns  were  six  feet  two  inches 
in  diameter  at  the  base  and  thirty-four  feet  in  height.  When  we 
remember  the  history  that  marks  this  building,  we  wonder  that 
there  is  a  trace  of  the  original  structure  left.  Standing  on  the 
top  of  this  high  hill,  where  it  has,  as  we  are  told,  been  shaken  by 
earthquakes,  rent  by  lightning,  torn  by  explosions,  robbed  by  the 
unscrupulous,  changed  by  superstitious  Christians  into  a  church, 
by  fanatical  Moslems  into  a  mosque,  exposed  to  the  burning  heat 


78  My  Trii'  to  the  (3rient. 

of  the  sun,  and  drenched  ])y  the  rains  of  heaven,  how  could  a 
remnant  of  it  have  survived?  And  yet  here  it  is;  and  we,  more 
than  two  thousand  years  after  its  erection,  walk  amid  its  broken 
columns  and  shattered  friezes,  and  look  up  with  wonder  at  shafts 
of  marble,  chiseled  by  hands  that  have  been  moldering  in  the 
grave  for  more  than  a  score  of  centuries,  still  standing  where 
they  placed  them,  with  scarcely  a  trace  of  their  beauty  gone. 

We  look  far  off  to  a  mountain  in  the  east,  and  see  a  scar  gleam- 
ing in  the  setting  sun  on  its  side,  and  are  told  that  that  is  the 
quarry  whence  all  this  wealth  of  architecture  and  sculpture  came. 
For  ages,  men  have  been  digging  into  the  heart  of  this  mountain, 
fashioning  its  hard,  snowy  treasure  into  columns  and  figures  that 
have  adorned  all  Greece,  and  been  sent  round  the  world.  And 
yet  it  is  not  exhausted.  When  we  had  satisfied  ourselves  with 
looking  at  the  broken  glory  at  our  feet,  we  went  to  the  side  of  the 
Acropolis,  that  hangs  above  the  present  city  of  Athens,  and  from 
whose  summit  all  of  ancient  Athens  was  visible.  The  sun,  that 
had  been  riding  in  splendor  all  day,  was  drawing  the  drapery  of 
the  clouds  about  him,  weaving  them  into  golden  fleeces  about 
his  form,  and  spreading  them  as  a  glory  about  his  brow  ere  he 
pillowed  his  head  in  the  sea,  that  rocked  and  tossed  beneath  him, 
pushed  aside  his  veil  and  bathed  the  mountain  sides  and  all 
the  city  of  Athens  in  a  subdued,  softened  light,  that  not  only 
glorified  the  scene,  but  awakened  memories  of  the  past,  and  shot 
its  golden  rays  along  the  corridors  of  time,  revealing  scenes  more 
glorious  even  than  the  enchanting  splendors  that  lay  as  a  living 
picture  beneath  us.  Greece,  sunny,  classic  Greece,  with  her 
scholars,  her  statesmen,  her  orators,  her  language,  chosen  by  our 
Lord  and  Master  as  the  vehicle  through  which,  in  these  last  times, 
to  speak  to  his  beloved,  all  passed  in  review  in  that  magic  scene. 
To  the  left  was  Mars'  Hill,  and  on  it  stood  the  great  Apostle  to 
the  Gentiles,  sweeping  the  horizon  of  the  world  with  his  vision, 
looking  up  to  the  very  throne  of  the  Eternal,  with  one  hand 
pointing  above,  the  other  spread  out  over  earth  and  heaven,  with 
his  back  to  the  Parthenon  and  his  face  to  Calvary,  exclaiming 
with  the  voice  of  an  archangel:  "God,  that  made  the  world  and 
all  things  therein,  seeing  that  he  is  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth, 
dwelleth  not  in  temples  made  with  hands;  neither  is  worshiped 
with  men's  liands,  as  though  he  needed  anything,  seeing  he  giveth 


My  Trip  to  thk  Orient.  81 

to  all  life,  and  breath,  and  all  things;  and  hath  made  of  one 
blood  all  nations  of  men,  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth, 
and  hath  determined  the  times  before  ai)pointed,  and  the  bounds 
of  their  habitation;  that  they  should  seek  the  Lord,  if  haply  they 
might  feel  after  him,  and  find  him,  though  he  be  not  far  from 
every  one  of  us:  for  in  him  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our 
being;  as  certain  also  of  your  own  poets  have  said,  For  we  are 
also  his  offspring.  Forasmuch  then  as  we  are  the  offspring  of 
God,  we  ought  not  to  think  that  the  Godhead  is  like  unto  gold, 
or  silver,  or  stone  graven  by  art  and  man's  device." 

Under  this  burning  eloquence,  all  the  glory  of  Athens  faded; 
the  splendid  image  of  Minerva,  towering  above  all  others,  gleam- 
ing in  ivory  and  gold,  with  the  votive  offerings  of  kings,  warriors, 
and  statesmen  piled  around  it,  with  fluted  columns  and  fretted 
frieze,  white  as  the  snows  of  Parnassus,  above  and  around  it,  be- 
came a  stiff  and  senseless  block,  not  worth  as  much  as  the  soil 
on  which  it,  motionless,  stood. 

Paul,  the  stranger,  who  was  only  waiting  for  his  friends,  and 
who  had  been  led  to  this  hill,  that  he  might  tell  these  worshipers 
of  idols  the  new  and  thrilling  doctrine  of  life  through  Christ  and 
the  resurrection,  was  now  the  central  figure  of  that  scene.  All 
earthly  glory  faded,  all  idols  with  their  temples  crumbled  into 
dust  and  ruins  at  his  feet,  while  the  crucified,  the  risen  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  now  the  Sun  of  righteousness,  the  Lord  of  all,  rose 
in  splendor  on  the  broad  horizon  of  the  world's  hopes,  thrilled  all 
hearts  and  lit  with  its  splendors  the  gloomy  chambers  of  the 
dead.  Athens,  bathed  in  the  tinted  light  of  the  setting  sun,  faded 
from  the  vision,  and  the  "great  city,  the  holy  Jerusalem,  descend- 
ing out  of  heaven  from  God,  having  the  glory  of  God:  .  .  .  and 
her  light  was  like  unto  a  stone  most  precious,  even  like  a  jasper 
stone,  clear  as  crystal."  And  my  heart  exclaimed,  "'Amen. 
Even  so  come,  Lord  Jesus." 

ATHENS.  —  (Continued.) 

Very  close  to  the  Acropolis  is  Mars'  Hill,  rendered  immortal  by 
the  wonderful  sermon  preached  by  Paul  as  he  waited  at  Athens 
for  his  friends  and  companions.  It  is  now  but  a  rough,  bare 
rock,  denuded  of  all  its  soil,  with  not  a  vestige  of  a  house  left 


82  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

upon  it,  if  there  ever  was  any.  Not  only  so,  but  there  are  no 
houses,  or  even  ruins,  round  about  it.  The  wash  and  change  of 
this  country  is  marvelous.  I  often  wondered  how  it  is  that  whole 
cities  have  been  buried  ten,  fifteen,  twenty  feet  deep,  and  that 
it  requires  the  spade  and  cart  of  the  archaeologist  to  unearth 
them.  But  I  have  seen  enough  to  fully  satisfy  my  mind  that 
this  is  done  in  most  instances  by  the  rains  washing  the  soil  from 
the  mountains.  At  Corinth,  I  saw  the  clearest  exemplification  of 
this. 

Below  Mars'  Hill  is  the  market-place,  where  Paul,  before  being 
taken  to  the  Areopagus,  disputed  with  them  daily.  We  walked 
through  this  market-place,  that  has  been  covered  with  earth  for 
ages,  and  had  pointed  out  to  us  the  stalls  and  stores  where  the 
busy  multitudes  then  talked  and  traded.  God  has  kept  locked 
up  in  this  earthly  treasure-house  —  much  of  it  the  soil  washed 
from  Mars'  Hill — not  only  the  stores,  but  the  record  of  the  fact 
that  here  the  superstitious  Athenians  assembled  and  spent  their 
time  "in  telling  or  hearing  some  new  thing."  Many  of  the  cus- 
toms of  these  people,  while  in  a  measure  modified,  have  come 
down  to  the  present,  unchanged.  Night  after  night  I  stood  on 
the  balcony  of  our  hotel  and  looked  out  upon  a  scene  I  never 
witnessed  before.  There  is  a  plaza  in  front  of  the  hotel,  and  as 
the  evening  comes  on,  long  rows  of  small,  round,  iron  tables  are 
set  out,  and  chairs  set  by  them.  As  the  shadows  of  evening 
gather,  the  crowds  gather  with  them,  until  thousands  are  seated 
round  the  tables,  where  diminutive  cups  of  coffee,  and  glasses  of 
water,  and  in  a  few  instances  wine,  are  served  them.  And  there 
they  sit,  and  talk,  and  discuss  matters  until  late  at  night.  There 
is  a  music-stand  in  the  midst,  and  eight  or  ten  musicians  dis- 
course sweet  music  until  a  late  hour  of  the  night.  The  crowds 
come  and  go  all  the  time.  I  walked  out  in  the  midst  of  them 
several  times  and  found  them  very  quiet  and  orderly.  I  could 
not  understand  a  word  that  was  spoken.  "It  was  Greek  to  me." 
But  I  have  no  doubt  the  very  scene  that  I  looked  upon  was  wit- 
nessed by  the  Apostle  Paul.  Our  little  company,  nearly  if  not 
all  of  them  Christians,  gathered  around  on  the  rocky  brow  of 
Mars'  Hill  and  listened  to  the  reading  of  Paul's  sermon  by 
Brother  Pepper.  It,  with  many  other  things,  had  a  new  mean- 
ing to  me.     Just  above  them  was  the  most  magnificent  temple  in 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  85 

all  Greece.  The  columns,  and  frieze,  and  architrave  that  now  lie 
in  broken  fragments  on  this  storm-torn  mountain  were  then  all 
in  their  places,  rich  in  all  the  splendor  of  art  and  man's  device, 
glittering  in  the  sunlight  as  if  the  hill  were  a  crown  of  alabaster, 
challenging  not  only  the  admiration  but  the  worship  of  men. 
Within  that  temple  stood  the  crowned  statue  of  Minerva,  made 
of  ivory  and  gold,  sparkling  in  the  splendors  of  diamonds  and 
rubies  and  other  precious  and  costly  gems.  Then  right  about 
him  were  the  seats  of  the  judges,  who  invested  themselves  and 
their  courts  with  all  that  pomp  and  paraphernalia  well  calculated 
to  strike  awe  into  the  minds  of  the  culprits  brought  before  them. 
We  were  told  as  we  sat  there,  that  the  custom  was  to  hold  the 
courts  only  at  night,  and  with  no  other  light  than  that  of  the 
moon.  The  criminal  sat  facing  the  judges  and  the  moon,  while 
the  judges  themselves  sat  in  the  shadows.  There  was  no  cover- 
ing to  this  place  of  judgment,  so  Paul  stood  beneath  the  open 
sky.  Before  and  below  him  was  the  market-place.  Beyond  that, 
the  city,  with  its  tens  of  thousands  of  busy  multitudes  rushing 
here  and  there  in  the  throb  and  beat  of  life.  Turning  to  his  left, 
he  could  see  the  restless,  surging  sea;  to  his  right,  the  Stadium, 
with  its  circling  seats  for  eighty  thousand  spectators  to  the  races 
and  wrestling-matches.  Near-by,  he  could  see  the  gleaming  tomb- 
stones, marking  the  site  of  the  city  of  the  dead;  and  round 
about  it  all,  like  a  rampart,  the  environing  mountains  lifted  their 
giant  forms;  and  above  all  the  blue  empyrean,  maybe  flecked 
here  and  there  with  a  passing  cloud. 

All  this,  and  more,  was  about  this  great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles 
as  he  stood  on  Mars'  Hill.  Was  it  not  enough  to  "stir  his 
spirit "?  He  had  "  encountered  the  philosophers  of  the  Epicureans 
and  of  the  Stoics";  had  listened  to  their  babblings,  and  vain,  un- 
satisfying reasonings.  And  now  they  had  taken  him  to  this 
place  of  judgment,  and  stood  waiting  al)out  him  to  hear  what  he 
would  say.  His  teachings  were  different  from  theirs,  and  they 
''would  know,  therefore,  what  these  things  mean."  They  who 
"spent  their  time  in  nothing  else  but  either  to  tell  or  to  hear 
some  new  thing"  were  now  waiting  before  him.  With  a  master 
hand  he  touched  that  on  which  they  prided  themselves  most,— 
their  devotion  to  their  gods.  The  streets  of  their  city  were  lined 
with  their  gods,  and  temples  and  shrines  crowned  every  available 


86  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

point;  and  that  they  might  leave  out  no  divinity,  they  had 
erected  an  altar  "TO^  THE  UNKNOWN  GOD."  This  he  takes 
as  his  text,  claiming  to  be  to  them  a  revealer  of  this  unknown 
God,  —  Him  "whom  ye  ignorantly  worship  declare  I  unto  you." 
Pointing,  not  to  the  Acropolis  crowned  with  its  temple  made  with 
hands,  the  glory  of  all  Greece,  and  wonder  of  the  world,  but  to 
the  heavens  above,  the  blue  sea,  and  the  mountains,  and  the 
plain,  he  exclaimed,  "God  that  made  the  world  and  all  things 
therein,  seeing  that  he  is  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  dwelleth  not 
in  temples  made  with  hands  [pointing  to  that  before  them]; 
neither  is  worshiped  with  men's  hands,  as  though  he  needed  any- 
thing [such  as  the  gifts  piled  about  the  image  of  Minerva],  seeing 
he  giveth  to  all  life,  and  breath,  and  all  things:  and  hath  made 
of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  [pointing  to  the  representatives 
of  all  nations  before  him],  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth, 
and  hath  determined  the  times  before  appointed,  and  the  bounds 
of  their  habitation;  that  they  should  seek  the  Lord,  if  haply  they 
might  feel  after  him,  and  find  him,  though  he  be  not  far  from 
every  one  of  us;  for  in  him  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our  be- 
ing [even  this  you  know];  as  certain  also  of  your  own  poets  have 
said,  'For  we  are  his  offspring.'  Forasmuch  then  as  we  are 
the  offspring  of  God,  we  ought  not  to  think  that  the  Godhead  is 
like  unto  gold,  or  silver,  or  stone,  graven  by  art  and  man's  device 
[such  as  occupy  your  temples,  even  the  material  of  which  was 
made  by  God].  And  the  times  of  this  ignorance  God  winked  at, 
[he  brings  it  home  to  them  with  all  authority];  but  now  com- 
mandeth  all  men  everywhere  to  repent:  because  he  hath  appointed 
a  day  [not  night,  beneath  the  moon's  light,  as  individual  culprits 
come],  in  which  he  will  judge  the  world  in  righteousness,  by  that 
man  whom  he  hath  ordained;  whereof  he  hath  given  assurance 
unto  all  men,  in  that  he  hath  raised  him  from  the  dead." 

Judge  ALL  MEN,  not  only  the  living,  but  the  dead.  The  sleepers 
in  yon  graveyard  should  rise,  and  stand  before  this  Judge,  no 
one  hiding  in  the  shadow,  no  one  overlooked. 

The  impression  was  deep  and  pungent;  and  although  some  re- 
ferred the  matter  to  another  day,  saying,  "We  will  hear  thee 
again  of  this  matter,"  yet  "certain  men  clave  unto  him,  and  be- 
lieved; among  the  which  was  Dionysius  the  Areopagite  [the  very 
ruler  of  the  temple  that  overshadowed  them],  and  a  woman 
named  Damaris,  and  others  with  them." 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  87 

Henceforth,  Mars'  Hill,  though  naked,  and  bare,  and  washed, 
and  changed,  will  be  a  new  place  to  me. 

From  the  Acropolis  we  could  see  the  island  of  Salamis,  girt  by 
the  sea,  on  whose  waters  one  of  the  most  celebrated  battles  of 
Grecian  history  was  fought,  —  the  battle  of  Salamis. 

Xerxes  with  his  millions  had  invaded  Greece,  and  seemed  ready 
to  overrun  and  with  his  sheer  numbers  crush  this  little  nation 
that  filled  the  world  with  its  learning. 

We  afterwards  pass  throvigh  the  waters  on  which  the  six  hun- 
dred ships  of  the  great  Persian  were  overpowered  by  the  three 
hundred  of  the  Greeks.  We  had  pointed  ov;t  to  us  the  point  of 
land  overlooking  the  Avhole,  where  the  great  leader  of  the  largest 
army  the  world  has  ever  seen  sat  and  saw  his  hopes  go  down  in 
remediless  ruin,  his  proud  ships  wrecked  and  burned,  and  his 
army  utterly  demoralized. 

Near  Mars'  Hill  is  another  noted  place.  It  is  the  rocky  forum 
or  platform  on  which  Demosthenes  stood  and  delivered  one  of 
his  most  celebrated  orations.  We  visited  this  memorable  place, 
and  Brother  Pepper,  inspired  by  the  memories  of  this  mighty 
orator  of  the  past,  stood,  and  in  rotund  accents  repeated  part  of 
that  other  great  oration, — 

"  You  'd  scarce  expect  one  of  my  age 
To  speak  in  public  on  the  stage. 
If  I  should  chance  to  fall  below 
Demosthenes  or  Cicero,"  etc. 

He  did  not  even  neglect  to  speak  with  pebbles  in  his  mouth. 
Miss  Anna  Scales  furnishing  him  with  the  latter,  that  he  might 
be  a  real  Demosthenes. 

Not  a  ^reat  way  from  this  point  is  a  prison  hewn  in  the  solid 
rock,  in  which,  we  are  told,  Socrates  drank  the  deadly  hemlock. 
In  the  largest  chamber  is  a  circular  opening  at  the  top,  to  let  in 
the  light. 

But  as  everything  round  about  this  renowned  hill  has  been 
changed,  not  only  by  its  changing  fortunes,  both  in  a  political 
and  religious  aspect,  even  the  elements  have  slowly  but  surely 
changed  the  physical  features  of  the  hill.  Almost  every  vestige 
of  what  man  had  placed  upon  it,  and  the  very  earth  that  once 
clothed  it  in  beauty,  have  been  swept  away,  leaving  but  a  bare, 
grinning  skeleton  of  rocks.     Thus  we  can  no  more  form  a  correct 


88  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

idea  of  its  appearance  when  Minerva's  Temple  gleamed  upon  its 
summit,  and  Paul  lit  it  with  the  glory  of  the  gospel,  than  we  can 
of  the  few  moldering  bones  of  the  soldiers  of  Marathon,  on  which 
we  gazed  the  day  before  in  the  Museum. 

ATHENS.  — (Continued.) 

From  the  Acropolis  one  can  see  the  new  walls  of  the  Stadium, 
being  built  with  the  money  left  by  M.  Georges  Averoff  (one  mil- 
lion dollars).  Here  is  where  the  Olympian  games  were  celebrated. 
This  spot  was  selected  by  Lycurgus,  350  B.  C. 

These  games  were  celebrated  at  another  point  until  Lycurgus 
made  the  change.  Two  parallel  hills,  joined  at  the  upper  part, 
formed  the  groundwork  of  the  Stadium.  Around  on  these  hills, 
seats  were  built,  making  an  amphitheater  very  much  the  shape 
of  an  elongated  horseshoe.  It  covers  an  area  of  80,000  square 
yards.     It  is  854  feet  long,  and  will  seat  70,000  people. 

The  building  of  the  present  seats  is  of  the  most  substantial 
character.  All  are  of  white  marble,  built  against  the  solid  hills, 
and  rising  one  above  the  other  in  regular  order.  In  clearing 
away  the  debits,  they  found  the  old  starting-post,  —  a  marble 
column  eight  or  ten  feet  high,  with  two  faces  looking  in  opposite 
directions.  This  they  have  set  up  as  a  starting-post  again.  The 
design  is  to  restore  the  old  Olympian  games.  Between  the  Sta- 
dium and  the  Acropolis  stand  the  ruins  of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter 
Olympus,  said  to  be  the  second  largest  ruin  in  Athens.  It  was 
commenced  500  B.  C,  but  not  completed  until  A.  D.  126.  Thir- 
teen columns  are  still  standing.  They  are  of  the  Corinthian 
order,  and  are  fifty-four  feet  high.  A  few  years  ago,  one  of  these 
columns  was  blown  down  by  a  storm,  revealing  the  manner  of  their 
construction.  They  are  composed  of  sections,  or  drums,  some  five 
or  six  feet  in  length,  fitted  one  upon  the  other  with  such  accuracy 
that  one  can  with  difficulty,  even  at  this  age,  discover  the  joints. 

A  most  interesting  day  was  spent  in  a  trip  to  the  Temple  of 
Mysteries,  some  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  from  Athens.  This  was 
the  objective  point  for  the  racers  and  combatants  of  the  Olympian 
games.  A  torchlight  procession  was  formed  after  night,  and 
marched  all  the  way  to  this  temple.  The  road  to  this  temple  was 
called  the  "Sacred  Way."     Midway,  they  passed  the  Temple  of 


My  Trip  to  tiik  Orip:nt.  89 

Daphne  (Apollo's),  also  those  of  Ceres  and  Venus.  Near  these 
ruins  a  part  of  the  road  is  shown,  which  is  in  a  fine  state  of  pres- 
ervation. Near  the  Temple  of  Daphne  is  the  Grove  of  the 
Nymphs,  composed  wholly  of  pines. 

The  ruins  of  the  Temple  of  Mysteries  cover  several  acres  of 
ground.  A  part  of  the  wall,  built  in  the  eleventh  century  before 
Christ,  is  still  in  existence. 

There  is  also  a  circular  well  near  the  Temple  of  Pluto,  —  part 
of  the  Temple  of  Mysteries.  It  was  down  this  well  that  Proser- 
pine is  said  to  have  descended  to  the  regions  of  Pluto.  At  this 
temple  those  who  were  entitled  to  them  were  initiated  into  the 
Mysteries. 

Near  the  site  of  this  temple,  ^schylus,  one  of  the  earliest  of 
the  Greek  tragedians,  was  born.  He  it  was  who  wrote  "  Prome- 
theus Bound." 

One  of  the  finest  pictures  in  Athens,  I  saw  in  King  George's 
Palace,  representing  Prometheus  bound  upon  the  rocks.  One 
can  almost  see  him  writhing  upon  his  flinty  bed. 

While  near  this  temple  we  witnessed  a  primitive  scene.  Two 
men  and  two  boys,  in  bare  feet,  with  their  pants  rolled  up  to  their 
knees,  "  treading  the  wine-press."  The  press  consisted  of  a  room 
eight  feet  square,  in  the  rock.  The  floor  inclined  to  one  side,  in 
which  was  an  opening  for  the  escape  of  the  juice.  Several  bushels 
of  grapes  were  thrown  into  this  press,  and  they  were  in,  tramping 
out  the  wine.  It  is  said  that  no  instrument  has  ever  been  in- 
vented superior  to  the  human  foot  for  expressing  the  juice  of  the 
grape.  As  we  approached  it,  the  men  and  boys  tramped  and 
pranced  all  over  the  mass,  the  juice  squirting  from  under  their 
feet,  and  coming  up  from  between  their  toes  with  a  slushy  noise 
that  was  very  suggestive  of  a  delightful  drink.  One  of  the  boys 
ran  and  got  a  glass,  and  when  the  luscious  stream  was  running 
through  a  basket  to  strain  it  of  its  impurities,  he  filled  it  and 
handed  it  to  me.  But  I  was  n't  thirsty.  And  being  a  strong 
temperance  man,  I  handed  it  to  the  young  ladies.  They  also  re- 
fused.. Strange  how  particular  some  people  are.  One  of  the 
boys,  after  being  out  a  while,  jumped  in  again  without  the  for- 
mality of  even  wiping  his  feet.  But  I  suppose  he  thought  that 
was  n't  necessary,  as  the  skins  and  juice  would  soon  cleanse  them 
after  he  got  in. 


90  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

The  best-preserved  temple  in  Greece  is  the  Temple  of  Theseus, 
built  460  B.  C.  It  is  near  where  Paul  saw  the  altar  "  To  the  Un- 
known God."  Here  the  victors  were  given  an  olive  branch  and 
a  vase  of  oil  from  the  sacred  olive  tree.  This  tree  was  guarded 
with  reverence.  The  penalty  of  death  was  awarded  any  one  who 
should  cut  the  smallest  branch  from  it.  This  tree  was  sacred  to 
Minerva.  Near  this  temple  was  the  double  gate.  In  entering 
the  city,  one  had  to  pass  this  double  gate.  No  doubt  Paul  passed 
through  this  gate,  and  looked  upon  the  tombs  near  it,  some  of 
them  dating  back  to  600  B.  C.  The  figures  in  bas-relief  on  these 
old  tombs  were  very  fine  and  well  preserved.  One  covered  the 
graves  of  Pomphela  and  sister,  who  were  of  high  birth,  aiid  once 
had  the  honor  of  weaving  the  robe  of  Minerva.  These  robes  were 
renewed  once  in  five  years.  It  took  more  than  a  year  to  make 
one.  When  the  day  came  to  place  it  on  the  image,  it  was  taken 
in  great  pomp  to  the  entrance  of  the  temple.  There  it  was  placed 
in  the  hands  of  a  man,  a  boy,  and  a  woman,  who  entered  the 
temple  and  placed  it  on  the  figure. 

The  Tower  of  the  Winds  was  particularly  interesting  to  me,  be- 
cause of  its  scientific  nature.  It  is  comparatively  a  small  build- 
ing. Octagonal  in  shape,  facing  the  cardinal  and  semi-cardinal 
points  of  the  compass,  every  fac^ade  is  adorned  with  a  figure,  in 
bas-relief,  representing  a  wind.  These  figures  are  in  a  fine  state 
of  preservation.  The  top  of  the  building  was  surmounted  by  a 
brass  Triton,  which  revolved,  and  showed  the  direction  of  the 
wind  by  a  wand  held  in  his  hand.  In  the  center  of  the  tower 
was  a  clepsydra,  or  water-clock.  It  was  fed  from  a  fountain  on 
the  Acropolis,  and  lines  are  chiseled  on  the  stone  to  show  the 
time.     This  tower  was  built  35  B.  C. 

We  visited  the  palace  of  King  George  of  Greece.  The  building 
is  plain,  but  substantial,  and  very  chaste  in  its  ornamentation. 

We  were  taken  through  the  three  great  ball-rooms,  the  main 
one  with  five  immense  chandeliers.  As  they  were  covered,  we 
could  not  see  the  workmanship.  We  were  conducted  first  into 
the  Queen's  reception-rooms.  All  the  furniture  was  upholstered 
in  light-colored  silk.  We  were  shown  the  stand  in  which  bread 
and  salt  is  placed  for  the  guests,  according  to  a  Russian  custom. 
The  Queen  is  a  Russian. 

We  next  visited    the    King's    reception-room.     This   was   up- 


My  Trip  to  thic  Oriknt.  93 

bolstered  in  red.  The  throne  was  but  a  large  chair,  set  under  a 
rich  canopy  at  one  side  of  the  room.  Some  of  the  paintings  about 
the  palace  were  very  fine. 

CORINTH. 

Corinth  was  not  on  our  programme,  but  Brother  Pepper  and  I 
planned  a  trip  to  this,  to  us  intensely  interesting,  city.  It  is  per- 
haps fifty  or  more  miles  from  Athens,  and  is  reached  by  rail.  A 
new  Corinth  has  sprung  up  at  the  railroad  station,  which  is  about 
an  hour's  drive  from  the  site  of  the  old  city. 

In  crossing  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth  we  passed  over  the  ship- 
canal  that  was  cut  some  fifteen  years  ago.  Nero  planned  to  make 
this  improvement,  and  actually  began  the  work.  His  excavations 
were  found  by  the  engineers  who  surveyed  this  one.  It  is  a  very 
fine  piece  of  work.  We  took  a  carriage  at  the  station  and  drove 
over  to  the  site  of  the  old  city.  A  little  straggling  village  of  tile- 
covered  mud  huts  stood  upon  the  debris  that  lay  on  the  lower 
part  of  this  once  famous  city.  As  we  stood  and  looked  at  the 
smooth  surface  of  the  hills  that  sloped  to  the  sea,  it  was  impos- 
sible to  conceive  that  beneath  this  twenty  or  thirty  feet  of  earth 
lay  the  ruins  of  this  "  Eye  of  Commerce,"  as  one  of  the  ancient 
historians  called  it.  But  the  bare  rocks  of  the  great  mountain 
that  stood  above  it  spoke  eloquently  of  how  they  were  disrobed 
of  all  their  soil,  that  now  covered  like  a  thick  mantle  home,  and 
street,  and  palace,  that  lay  pulseless  beneath  it.  A  few  years  ago, 
Dr.  Richardson,  an  American,  began  explorations  on  the  site  of 
Corinth.  He  had  read  carefully  a  book  written  by  Pausanias  be- 
fore the  time  of  Christ.  This  book  described  most  accurately  all 
points  of  interest  in  the  city.  He  described  the  Temple  of  Apollo, 
and  the  relation  of  other  places  and  buildings  to  it.  When  the 
earth  from  the  mountains  came  sweeping  down,  it  covered  all  the 
city,  but  left  seven  columns  of  this  temple  standing  part  of  the  way 
above  the  surface.  Centuries,  in  their  slow  march,  went  by,  and 
clothed  the  soil  that  lay  above  the  dead  city  with  verdure.  Shep- 
herds drove  their  flocks,  and  pitched  their  tents  above  it.  They 
even  drilled  holes  in  the  classic  marble  pillars  of  the  Temple  of 
Apollo,  in  which  to  place  their  tent-poles  while  watching  their 
flock.     The  simple  husbandman  built  his  hut  and  planted  the 


94  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

olive  and  the  vine  over  scenes  of  wealth  and  glory,  and  knew  it 
not.  The  waves  of  the  sea  still  lapped  the  shore,  and  the  winds 
blew  as  of  yore,  but  no  vessels  came  and  went,  laden  with  the 
commerce  of  the  East.  Corinth  was  dead  and  buried,  and  the 
only  visible  monument  to  mark  its  grave  were  the  fragments  of 
seven  broken  pillars  of  the  Temple  of  Apollo. 

Pausanias  in  his  old  book  said,  so  many  paces  east  of  the  Temple 
of  Apollo  is  the  broad  roadway  that  leads  from  the  sea  to  the  Pro- 
pylaea.  Here  Dr.  Richardson  sunk  his  first  shaft  in  his  search  for 
Corinth.  His  faith  and  perseverance  were  rewarded  by  striking,  in 
due  time,  the  marble  pavement  of  this  way.  For  months  he  toiled 
on  until  a  large  section  of  the  street  was  uncovered.  It  was  in  a 
perfect  state  of  preservation.  The  street  itself  is  twenty-four  feet 
wide,  with  sidewalks  raised  some  eight  or  ten  inches,  of  between 
eight  and  nine  feet,  making  the  whole  over  forty  feet  in  width. 

Pausanias  spoke  of  a  fountain  so  many  paces  to  the  east  of  this 
way.  Dr.  Richardson  found  this,  too,  with  two  perfectly  pre- 
served bronzed  lions'  heads  as  outlets  for  the  water.  He  cleaned 
out  the  fountains,  and  after  some  search  found  the  original  stream 
of  water,  which  he  had  conveyed  to  the  little  village  below;  and 
from  this  fountain  we  drank.     The  water  was  pure  and  good. 

The  site  of  the  Temple  of  Apollo  was  then  exhumed.  The 
building  originally  had  forty-two  columns,  and  from  its  com- 
manding location  must  have  been  very  beautiful.  Near  it  he  un- 
earthed the  Fountain  of  Glance.  This  fountain  is  of  great  size, 
and  has  four  departments,  all  heAvn  in  the  solid  rock  of  the  moun- 
tain side.  The  water,  in  entering  each  chamber,  was  shot  from 
the  mouth  of  a  bronze  lion's  head.  The  stream  that  fed  these 
fountains  has  not  yet  been  discovered.  An  interesting  legend 
connected  with  this  fountain  was  related  to  us  by  our  intelligent 
and  well-read  guide. 

Jason,  who  stole  the  golden  fleece  from  Colchis  in  Asia  Minor, 
was  assisted  by  Medea.  (While  on  the  Bosphorus,  a  week  later, 
we  had  the  place  where  Jason  and  Medea  crossed  that  strait  into 
Europe  pointed  out  to  us.)  They  went  to  Thessaly.  There  they 
had  two  children  born  to  them.  After  this,  Jason  took  the 
two  children  and  went  to  Corinth,  wdiere  he  fell  in  love  with 
Olauce,  King  Crayon's  daughter.  But  Medea  followed  him,  and 
begged  of  the  king  to  see  him.     At  first  refused,  she  asked  the 


My  Trip  to  the  OriiKNT.  95 

privilege  of  seeing  and  kissing  her  children.  Jason  brought  them 
out  to  her.  She  then  besought  him  to  give  u\)  the  idea  of  marry- 
ing Glauce,  and  still  remain  true  to  her.  She  appealed  to  liim 
by  the  memory  of  her  former  devotion  and  sacrifice  for  him. 
She  called  to  his  mind  that  she  had  assisted  liim  in  securing  the 
golden  fleece,  and  to  prevent  her  father  from  following  tliem  she 
had  killed  and  cut  to  pieces  her  own  brother.  But  he  was  deaf 
to  her  entreaties,  and  married  Glauce.  Then  she  sent  Glauce  a 
finely  wrought  bridal  robe,  but  poisoned  it.  When  the  bride  put 
it  on,  the  pain  of  the  poison  became  so  intolerable,  that  she  went 
to  the  great  fountain  of  Corinth,  and  throwing  herself  in,  was 
drowned.  From  thenceforth  it  was  known  as  the  fountain  of 
Glauce.  The  citizens  of  Corinth  murdered  the  two  children  of 
Medea,  and  they  were  buried  near  the  fountain.  Two  pine  trees 
stand  over  their  graves.  Dr.  Richardson  has  been  so  successful 
in  following  the  directions  of  Pausanias,  that  he  says  his  next 
search  shall  be  for  these  graves. 

This  fountain,  Pausanias  tells  us,  reaches  back  into  mytho- 
logical times.  The  legend  we  have  given  is  related  by  Eurii)ides, 
who  quoted  it  from  the  writings  of  Homer. 

Dr.  Richardson  expected  to  find  some  rare  and  beautiful  works 
of  art  in  the  form  of  statues,  etc.,  but  has  been  disappointed  so 
far,  although  he  has  uncovered  but  a  very  small  part  of  the  great 
city,  but  he  thinks  he  has  exhumed  the  most  important  buildings. 
When  we  remember  that  this  proud  city  was  first  shaken  down 
by  an  earthquake,  then  despoiled  of  its  treasures  of  building  and 
art  by  ruthless  hands,  that  built  and  adorned  other  cities  wdth 
the  spoil  of  this  one,  and  that  for  ages  the  winds  and  rains  have 
been  wrapping  its  earthly  winding-sheet  about  it,  it  is  no  wonder 
that  its  chambers  are  bare  and  its  beauty  destroyed. 

But  we  were  more  interested  with  Paul's  connection  with  this 
city  than  in  its  present  ruins,  or  even  its  former  architectural 
grandeur.  He  was  here  when  its  streets  were  busy  with  commerce, 
and  the  houses  were  full  of  people;  when  her  idols  were  honored 
and  her  temples  echoed  to  the  tread  of  multiplied  thousands  of 
worshipers;  when  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  was  only  treasured 
in  the  obscure  synagogues  of  the  Jews;  when  death  was  a  terror, 
and  the  grave  looked  upon  as  an  impassable  gulf  between  the  living 
and  the  dead;  when  funerals  cast  a  pall  upon  heart  as  well  as  bier; 


96  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

when  corruption  and  vice  were  at  a  premium,  and  debauchery  ran 
riot.  Then  it  was  that  this  stranger  of  another  nation,  without  a 
herald  to  declare  his  coming,  and  without  prestige,  arrived  alone 
with  the  religion  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  —  the  religion  that 
taught  the  folly  of  all  their  worship,  breaking  with  a  single  stroke 
both  their  idols  and  their  temples,  —  threw  himself  into  the  sur- 
ging tide,  not  to  sweep  on  with  it,  but  to  arrest  it,  to  cleanse  it  of 
its  impurity  and  corruption. 

All  the  wisdom,  all  the  learning,  and  all  the  wealth  of  that 
great  city  had  been  lavished  upon  their  temple  and  their  worship, 
and  now  all  this  was  to  give  way  under  the  "foolishness  of 
preaching."  While  before  him  was  a  crucified,  mangled  man,  be- 
neath him  was  a  despoiled  grave,  a  ruined  empire,  —  the  empire 
of  darkness,  —  above  him  was  the  opening  heavens,  and  the  Lord 
God  of  heaven  and  earth  spake  in  tones  of  love,  declaring  himself 
as  their  God  and  Father,  their  Redeemer,  and  their  Friend,  their 
Comforter  and  Guide;  for  to  those  who  accepted  him  he  was 
"wisdom  and  righteousness,  and  sanctification  and  redemption." 

He  spoke,  but  his  "speech  and  preaching  was  not  with  enticing 
words  of  man's  wisdom,  but  in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and 
of  power."  He  touched  on  all  the  points,  even  of  their  private 
life,  overthrowing  all  corruption  and  uncleanness,  and  setting  up 
in  their  stead  purity,  fellowship,  and  love.  He  took  hold  of  the 
tenderest  ties  of  the  human  heart  and  entwined  them  about  the 
cross  of  Christ,  ennobling  and  beautifying  them.  He  tenderly 
laid  his  hand  in  the  hand  of  the  sorrow-stricken  and  bereaved, 
led  them  out  to  the  graves  of  their  loved  ones,  and  told  them  of 
the  resurrection,  until  their  sorrow  was  turned  into  joy,  and  they 
went  away  to  comfort  others  with  the  same  blessed  words. 

There  was  not  a  phase  of  human  life,  in  time  or  eternity,  upon 
which  he  did  not  turn  the  glorious  light  of  the  gospel,  which  was 
"the  power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom  of  God."  But  this  was  not 
to  be  effected  in  a  day.  The  momentum  of  sin,  corruption,  and 
idolatry  was  too  great  to  be  arrested  at  once.  Night  and  day, 
and  from  house  to  house,  the  work  went  on  for  a  year  and  six 
months,  until  Corinth  shone  as  one  of  the  fairest  jewels  in  the 
crown  of  the  Redeemer. 

I  could  not  but  call  up  these  scenes  in  the  life  of  Paul  as  I 
walked  where  he  had  trod,  and  looked  upon  the  wrecks  of  buildings 
that  he  had  seen  in  their  glory. 


My  Trii'  to  the  Oriknt.  97 

As  I  wandered  over  these  deserted  ruins,  and  later,  as  in  tlie 
cities  of  Asia  Minor,  as  well  as  in  Greece  and  Italy,  and  saw  the 
cloud  that  rests  on  all  these  lands,  and  heard  the  call  to  prayers 
from  the  minarets,  where  Christ  is  forgotten,  I  asked,  Was  all  of 
Paul's  labor  lost?  And  had  a  moral  (h'I)ris  covered  the  beautiful 
church  of  Jesus  Christ  forever  from  the  pure  light  of  heaven? 
and  will  no  faithful,  loving  hand  remove  the  pall,  and  let  the 
living  light  of  heaven  fall  once  more  upon  it? 

Paul  is  gone,  Corinth  is  no  more,  but  while  darkness  may  cover 
this  land,  and  gross  darkness  this  i)eople,  yet  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness  still  shines,  and  in  the  far  West  he  bathes  the 
nations  in  a  flood  of  light,  and  Paul,  through  his  epistles,  written 
originally  to  churches  now  dead  and  buried,  cheers  and  comforts 
multiplied  millions  of  the  devout  followers  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  The  prophet,  when  he  heard  a  voice  saying,  "Cry," 
turning  his  eye  aloft,  asked,  "What  shall  I  cry?"  and  the  answer 
came,  "All  flesh  is  as  grass,  and  all  the  glory  of  man  as  the  flower 
of  grass.  The  grass  withereth,  and  the  flowers  thereof  falleth 
away;  but  the  word  of  the  Lord  endureth  forever." 

So  God's  word  shall  not  return  —  has  not  returned  —  to  him  void, 
and  lands  that  are  afar  off  rejoice  in  the  glorious  light.  And  as  the 
sun  sweeps  round  the  world,  enlightening  every  land,  may  we  not 
look  for  the  glory  of  God  to  follow  on,  until  this  land,  once  the 
cradle  of  the  Church,  and  this  people,  once  his  peculiar  treasure, 
become  his  again? 


98  xMy  Trip  to  the  Orient. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

Constantinople  —  Dogs  —  Policemen  —  Fire  Department  —  Museum  — 
Mosque  OF  St.  Sophia  —  Howling  Dervishes  — The  Sultan  —  Smyrna 
—  Grave  of  Polycarp  —  Beirut  —  Baalbek  —  Abana  River  —  A 
Syrian  Wedding. 

co>sta]s;tinople. 

Leaving  Athens  in  an  Austrian  steamer,  we  were  soon  sweep- 
ing up  the  ^Egean  Sea,  among  the  ishxnds  of  the  Grecian  Archi- 
pelago, many  of  which  mark  epochs  and  instances  memorable  in 
mythology  as  well  as  in  actual  history.  As  we  threaded  the  Dar- 
danelles, the  site  of  ancient  Troy,  so  long  lost  to  history,  but  re- 
cently brought  to  light  by  the  spade  of  the  archaeologist,  was 
pointed  out  to  us.  We  could  scarcely  reahze  that  a  spot  now  not 
differing  from  the  long  line  of  coast  on  which  it  lay,  with  neither 
castle,  moat,  nor  wall  to  mark  it  from  the  rest,  was  the  scene  of 
such  a  siege  as  it  endured,  and  was  the  scene  of  one  of  the  great- 
est epics  of  the  world  of  literature.  There,  in  the  Hellespont, 
we  saw  where  Leander  courageously  swam  it,  and  in  later  years, 
when  Lord  Byron  would  weave  his  daring  deed  in  verse  that 
was  to  immortahze  his  name,  to  prove  that  the  deed  was  not 
irapossi])le,  performed  the  feat  himself. 

On  Sunday  morning  early  we  reached  Constantinople,  the 
capital  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  and  the  residence  of  the  Sultan. 
We  soon  reached  our  hotel,  having  had  our  passports  carefully 
passed  through  the  hands  of  the  proper  authorities,  and  our  bag- 
gage examined  by  the  custom-house  otficers.  After  a  hasty  toilet 
we  were  conducted  by  our  guide  to  the  English  church,  where  we 
listened  to  a  service  of  over  an  hour  and  a  sermon  of  twelve 
minutes.  The  rest  of  the  day  I  spent  in  my  room.  In  the 
evening,  our  little  party  gathered  in  one  of  our  rooms,  and  we 
had  a  service  of  our  own.  I  preached  as  best  I  could,  and  our 
hearts  were  greatly  comforted.  We  felt  the  presence  of  the  Com- 
forter as  we  worshiped  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
This  is  a  great  city  of  over  one  million  inhabitants.     It  lies  on 


Mv  Titir  TO  THK  Orient.  99 

both  sides  of  what  is  known  as  the  Goklen  Horn,  wliich  is  a  spur 
of  the  Bosphorus,  running  nearly  at  riglit  angles  from  the  strait. 
The  mountains,  or,  rather,  high  hills,  rise  on  each  side  the  Golden 
Horn,  and  the  city  is  built  on  these  slopes.  It  would  he  hard  to 
find  a  more  beautiful  and  picturesque  location  for  a  great  city. 
One  side  is  called  Constantinople-Pera,  and  the  other  Constanti- 
nople-Stamhoul.  Nearly,  if  not  all,  the  foreigners,  the  ambassa- 
dors, consuls,  and  legations  live  in  Pera.  But  the  city  is  not 
confined  to  the  two  sides  of  the  Golden  Horn,  but  far  up  the 
Bosphorus,  to  the  Black  Sea,  a  distance  of  eight  or  more  miles, 
the  shore  is  lined  with  houses,  that  reach  back  to  the  very  sum- 
mit of  the  hills.  This  is  called  Galata.  While  across  the  strait, 
on  the  Asia  Minor  side,  is  Scutari,  lining  all  the  shore,  and  reach- 
ing far  back  into  the  country. 

The  Bosphorus,  which  is  the  strait  that  connects  the  Sea  of 
Marmora  with  the  Black  Sea,  is  a  most  beautiful  sheet  of  water, 
a  mile  or  two  wide,  not  running  in  a  straight  line,  but  meandering 
in  the  most  picturesque  and  beautiful  manner.  Upon  its  waters 
lie  all  sorts  of  craft,  from  the  battle-ships  with  their  frowning 
guns,  the  great  sea-going  iron  steamers  with  their  crowds  of  pas- 
sengers, the  pleasure-yachts  with  their  trim  and  graceful  propor- 
tions, to  the  hundreds  of  sloops,  brigs,  yawls,  and  all  the  lesser 
craft.  There  is  never  a  moment  when  some  of  these  vessels  are 
not  gliding  across  its  silvery  surface,  presenting  a  picture  of  life 
and  animation  most  charming. 

Two  immt-nse  iron  bridges  span  the  Golden  Horn,  that  are 
crowded  from  early  morn  till  late  at  night.  A  footman  is  charged 
one  cent,  in  our  money,  for  crossing  this  bridge,  and  I  never  was 
on  it,  that  there  were  not  from  five  hundred  to  a  thousand  rush- 
ing, jostling,  and  pushing  one  way  or  the  other.  I  was  told  that 
the  revenue  from  one  of  these  bridges  was  one  thousand  dollars 
per  day. 

All  the  Turks  wear  a  small  vizorless  red  cap  or  fez.  Standing 
at  one  end  of  the  bridge,  you  see  one  restless,  tossing  sea  of  red 
caps  in  view. 

Here  and  there  in  the  moving  mass  is  a  wagon,  a  carriage,  or 
a  loaded  donkey.  But  more  numerous  than  all,  there  are  men 
with  burdens  on  tlieir  liack  that  would  load  a  horse.  I  never  saw 
men  bear   such  burdens.     I  saw  one  man   with   liis  liody   bent 


100  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

parallel  with  the  ground,  moving  in  a  brisk  walk  with  a  good- 
sized  sofa,  two  upholstered  and  two  common  chairs  piled  up  on 
his  back;  another  with  a  thirty-six-gallon  barrel  full  of  some 
sort  of  liquor  on  his;  another  with  a  large  basket  with  about 
twenty  good-sized  watermelons  on  his,  and  another  small  basket, 
with  three  in  it,  carried  swung  before  him;  another  with  a  large 
wardrobe;  another  with  a  spring  bed,  etc.  They  have  a  sort  of 
leather  cushion,  something  like  a  soldier's  knapsack,  resting  on 
the  small  of  the  back,  and  on  this  they  pile  the  load.  These 
burden-bearers  thread  their  way  through  the  crowded  narrow 
streets  with  a  celerity  that  is  marvelous.  In  Rome,  Naples,  and 
Athens  the  ass  is  loaded  down  with  baskets  of  grapes  and  other 
fruits,  but  here  the  men  are  the  beasts  of  burden.  They  go  through 
the  streets  crying  their  wares  all  day  long. 


DOGS. 

Constantinople  is  noted  for  its  dogs,  not  for  the  nobility  of  the 
breed,  not  for  the  color  or  sagacity,  but  for  sheer  numbers.  In 
a  short  drive  of  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  to  the  hotel,  I  counted 
184.  One  evening  our  party  was  invited  to  the  house  of  a  banker 
to  spend  the  evening.  On  our  return,  in  a  ten-minutes'  walk, 
a  gentleman  and  I  counted  190.  There  are  said  to  be  from 
150,000  to  180,000  in  the  city.  They  lie  curled  up  on  the  side- 
walks, in  the  streets,  —  anywhere  they  can  find  a  place.  No  one 
disturbs  them.  Everybody  walks  round  them,  even  if  he  has  to 
leave  the  sidewalk  to  do  it.  I  am  told  they  are  regarded  as  sacred, 
and  it  is  thought  that  in  the  transmigration  of  souls  these  curs 
are  the  receptacles  of  many  of  them.  If  a  cabman  should  run 
over  one,  he  is  arrested,  and  must  pay  a  fine  of  $1.25. 

As  a  general  thing,  they  are  very  quiet,  but  some  nights  they 
make  the  welkin  ring.  Every  dog  has  his  range  or  beat.  Should 
he  dare  go  out  of  it  into  another,  every  dog  in  reach  rushes  upon 
him,  and  he  has  to  fight  for  his  life.  If  he  survives  the  fight, 
which  is  not  always  the  case,  he  is  let  alone,  and  may  dwell  in 
peace  among  his  new  friends. 

I  asked  our  guide  how  these  dogs  lived.  He  said  everybody 
feeds  them.  The  hotels,  instead  of  carting  off  their  scraps  and 
garbage,  have  it  emptied  in  the  streets,  and  it  requires  but  a  few 


Mv  Trip  to  the  Oiuknt.  103 

minutes  for  every  vestige  of  it  to  disappear.  I  saw  a  man  empty 
out  a  lot  of  scraps;  around  him  were  twenty-five  or  thirty  dogs, 
and  you  may  rest  assured  it  was  no  ([uiet  meaL 

They  are  born,  and  live,  and  die  in  the  streets.  They  call  no 
man  master,  and  as  far  as  I  cuuld  see  or  learn,  they  know  no 
man  after  the  flesh,  but  are  perfectly  independent. 

POLICEMEN. 

Another  thing  that  struck  me  was  the  movements  of  the  police- 
men at  night.  They  go  through  the  city  at  night,  ever  and  anon 
striking  the  pavement  with  a  heavy  club  or  walking-cane.  This 
beat  is  answered  in  some  adjoining  street  by  a  similar  beat. 
Sometimes  the}'-  seemed  to  telegraph  to  each  other  through  these 
beats.  Of  course  this  custom  has  come  down  through  the  ages; 
and  may  not  our  term,  referring  to  the  section  to  which  a  police- 
man is  confined,  —  his  "beat,"  —  have  come  from  this  custom? 

These  Turks  are  behind  in  everything  except  soldiering. 
Everywhere  else  we  have  been,  they  have  the  electric  light, 
especially  in  the  hotels.  Here  they  use  candles.  And  their  tire 
department  is  a  curiosity.  We  visited  the  tower  of  Galata, 
located  in  the  heart  of  tlie  city.  It  is  180  feet  high.  We  climbed 
to  the  top  of  it.  I  had  quite  an  experience  when  I  reached  the 
top  and  stepped  out  on  the  balcony.  A  strong  wind  caught  my 
hat  and  sent  it  flying  through  the  air,  and  landed  it  on  the  top 
of  a  house  far  below.  I  never  expected  to  get  it  again.  But  our 
guide  had  watched  it  in  its  flight,  saw  where  it  landed,  and  point- 
ing it  out  to  one  of  the  firemen,  sent  him  after  it.  Away  he  went, 
and  in  due  time  we  saw  him  mount  to  the  tile  roof  and  seize  my 
wayward  tile.  One  franc  paid  him  for  his  trouble.  But  I  com- 
menced to  tell  you  about  the  fire  department  and  its  plan  of 
operation. 

Ten  or  twelve  men  remain  in  tliis  building  night  and  day. 
One  is  ever  at  the  ui>i)ermost  point  of  the  tower,  that  commands 
a  view  of  the  whole  city.  If  he  discovers  a  tire,  he  at  once  rushes 
down  to  the  room  below  and  announces  the  fact  and  the  location 
of  the  fire  to  the  department.  Each  member  seizes  a  stick, 
very  much  like  an  ox-goad,  some  four  feet  long,  with  a  lance  or 
bayonet  on  the  end  of  it,  and  with  a  prolonged  howl  goes  rushing 


104  My  Tmr  to  the  Orient. 

through  the  street  to  various  parts  of  the  city  to  announce  the 
fact  to  the  authorities.  The  stick  with  the  long  goad  on  the  end 
is  to  clear  the  way  for  the  runner  in  the  crowded  streets.  Where 
that  howl  is  heard  and  that  goad  is  seen,  everything  but  the  dogs 
get  out  of  the  way.  When  the  fact  of  the  fire  is  duly  announced, 
the  engine  is  brought  out,  mounted  on  the  shoulders  of  four  men, 
who  proceed  with  all  haste  to  the  fire.  If  it  has  not  burned  out 
by  the  time  they  get  there,  they  proceed  to  put  it  out,  if  they 
can.  It  would  be  a  very  persistent  blaze  that  would  survive 
such  treatment,  and  continue  to  burn. 

The  chief  of  the  tower-gang  gave  us  an  illustration  of  how  the 
thing  is  done.  He  armed  one  of  the  men  with  a  goad,  and  had 
him  run  round  the  large  circular  room  with  a  prolonged  howl 
that  would  have  done  credit  to  a  steam-whistle. 


MUSEUM. 

Our  first  visit  in  Constantinople  was  to  the  Museum  of  Anti- 
quities. Here  the  old,  the  strange,  and  the  curious  have  been 
gathered,  especially  archaeological  treasures  from  Egypt  and  the 
far  East.  The  grave  holding  the  ashes  of  the  dead,  held  sacred 
by  all  nations,  from  the  untutored  savage  to  the  most  learned 
and  enlightened,  has  been,  in  these  latter  days,  ruthlessly  in- 
vaded, robbed  of  its  sacred  trust,  and  not  only  the  coffin,  l)Ut  the 
grinning  skeletons  of  the  dead,  have  been  dragged  out  and  put  on 
exhibition.  These  archaeologists  are  no  respecters  of  persons, 
for  they  have  unearthed  all,  and  have  displayed  all,  from  the 
unshrouded  skeletons  of  soldiers  who  died  on  the  battle-field, 
to  kings  and  queens,  whose  persons,  in  life,  were  held  too  sacred 
to  be  approached  without  ceremony,  and  whose  lifeless  bodies 
were  laid  away  as  sacred  dust.  These  have  been  laid  side  by  side, 
in  this  practical  age,  in  which  sentiment  must  give  way  to  science, 
and  men  find  and  read  lessons  writ  in  the  mold  of  death. 

We  were  shown  sarcophagi  from  Sidon,  Smyrna,  and  Tripoli, 
some  of  them  said  to  be  two  thousand  eight  hundred  years  old. 
One  from  Babylon,  of  wood,  covered  with  metal,  showed  marks  of 
great  age;  another,  of  terra-cotta,  was  untouched  by  the  tooth  of 
time.  There  were  found  treasures  of  gold  in  many  of  the  royal 
coffins.     In  one,  side  by  side  with  human  bones,  were  found  the 


My  Trii'  to  thk  Ohiknt.  107 

heads  of  three  dogs.  What  a  dead  man  could  do  willi  doL's  in 
the  land  of  shades  is  not  recorded. 

The  sarcophagus  of  the  King  of  Sidon  was  one  bought  from 
the  Egyptians,  and  was  a  most  elaborate  and  costly  affair.  Two 
tall  candelabra  and  a  throne  captured  by  the  Turks  from  the 
Persians  when  they  overran  all  the  East,  we  also  found  in  this 
Museum.  I  was  much  interested  in  the  ornaments  of  gold  dug 
up  from  the  ruins  of  ancient  Troy  by  Dr.  Schliemann. 

In  Salonica  was  found  a  bronze  statue  of  Jupiter,  some  two 
feet  in  height,  with  two  rubies  for  eyes,  as  bright  as  the  day  they 
were  set  in  the  image. 

From  the  tomb  of  Alexander  the  (xreat  was  taken  a  wreath  of 
pure  gold,  representing  the  laurel.  In  this  case  the  brow  faded, 
and  crumbled  back  to  dust,  while  yet  the  laurel  wreath  was  fair. 
But  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  describe  this  Museum.  I  have  only 
singled  out  a  few  objects,  that  you  may  form  an  idea  of  its  char- 
acter and  contents. 

MOSQUE    OF   ST.    SOPHIA. 

Constantinople  is  a  city  of  mosques  and  minarets.  The 
mosques  are  all  dome-shaped,  sometimes  swelling  up  in  a  single 
dome,  like  a  great  bubble,  amid  the  sea  of  houses;  at  other  times 
the  main  dome  is  surrounded  by  half-domes  on  every  side,  that 
increase  the  area  and  yet  maintain  the  shape  desired.  The  min- 
arets shoot  up  by  the  side  of  the  mosques,  slender,  round,  and 
tall,  ending  in  a  sharp  point  Uke  a  well-trimmed  pencil.  High 
up  the  minaret  is  a  sort  of  collar,  or  circular  room,  in  whii'h  the 
man  stands  to  call  to  i)rayers.  Five  times  a  day,  from  each  and 
every  one  of  these  minarets,  are  calls  to  prayers  made.  The 
Moslem  rings  no  bells  to  summon  the  faithful  to  duty,  but,  rain 
or  shine,  the  long,  whining  cry  from  these  human  tongues  floats 
over  the  city  like  an  echo  from  the  skies.  Some  mosques  have 
but  a  single  minaret;  others  have  four,  and  even  more.  A  few 
minutes  before  the  hour  to  call,  a  man  ai)pears  in  his  little  aerie 
and  waits  the  appearance  of  those  in  other  minarets;  for  they  can 
see  from  one  to  the  other,  and  just  at  tlie  proper  moment  the 
mellow  notes  come  floating  down  from  all  alike.  Tiiere  is  a  fai'i- 
nating  sweetness,  that  seems  to  till  all  the  air  as  voice  mingles 
with   voice  above,  and  descends  like   interlocked  notes  of  music 


lOS  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

on  the  ear.  For  several  minutes  the  air  is  resonant  with  the 
melody  of  this  call.  Then  the  faithful  repair  to  the  nearest 
fountain, —  many  of  these  fountains  stand  near  the  mosques,  for 
the  use  of  the  worshipers,  —  where  they  Avash  their  faces,  their 
feet,  and  their  hands,  and  then  go  in  to  pray.  I  had  formed  the 
idea  that  the  great  majority  of  the  Mohammendans  heeded  this 
call  to  prayers,  and,  no  matter  how  busy,  would  drop  all  and  re- 
spond to  the  demand  of  Allah  for  devotion.  But  the  call  makes 
scarcely  a  ripple  on  the  surface  of  the  surging,  seething  crowds  of 
busy  men  in  the  streets. 

We  first  visited  the  Mosque  of  St.  Sophia.  Before  we  entered, 
large  and  small  slippers  were  furnished  us,  according  to  the  size 
of  our  feet,  to  be  put  on  over  our  shoes,  that  no  unhallowed 
leather  of  a  "Christian  dog"  might  touch  the  floor  of  this  holy 
building.  As  there  was  no  leather  at  the  heel,  and  no  strings  to 
hold  them  to  the  foot,  our  party  found  great  difficulty  in  keeping 
them  on,  and  we  went  sliding  our  feet  along  the  loose  matting  on 
the  floor,  in  the  most  amusing  way.  More  than  once  mine  slipped 
off,  and  I  stepped  with  unhallowed  feet  on  the  sacred  floor.  The 
main  dome  rests  upon  four  great  pillars,  some  twenty-four  feet  in 
diameter.  This  dome  is  supplemented  by  four  half-domes,  that 
rise  to  a  lesser  height,  giving  a  most  pleasing  effect  to  the  whole 
interior  of  the  building.  There  are  no  seats  in  a  mosque,  but  the 
worshipers  either  stand  or  kneel  on  the  thick  matting  with  which 
the  stone  floor  is  spread. 

While  going  through  the  mosque  we  saw  several  who,  our  guide 
told  us,  were  learning  the  Koran.  The  learner  and  teacher  were 
both  seated  on  the  floor,  repeating  in  a  loud  sing-song  voice  sen- 
tence after  sentence. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  noted  mosques  in  the  empire,  and  it  has 
passed  through  many  vicissitudes  of  fortune,  and  its  floor  has  run 
red  with  the  blood  of  thousands  of  unfortunate  human  beings. 

Our  guide  told  us  that  at  one  time,  when  many  thousands  of 
Christian  bodies  lay  piled  up  upon  the  floor,  that  Mohammed  II 
rode  in  on  their  dead  bodies,  wdth  sword  in  hand,  and,  striking 
one  of  the  stone  pillars  with  his  sword,  leaving  a  great  gash  in  the 
stone,  that  was  shown  us,  said,  "The  massacre  must  stop."  He 
dashed  his  bloody  hand  against  the  stone  wall,  and  left  its  print 
full  size  on  the  rock.     He  also  showed  us  a  hole  in  the  side  of  a 


My  Tkii'  to  tmk  Oriknt.  Ill 

marble  pillar,  which,  he  said,  had  holy  water  in  it  when  it  was  a 
Christian  church,  hut  when  it  was  converted  into  a  mosque,  the 
water  dried  up.  W  hen  it  hecomes  a  Christian  cliurch,  it  will  liave 
water  in  it  again.  And  he  had  each  one  of  us  to  thrust  <jur  finger 
in  the  hole,  to  see  how  cold  it  was,  as  evidence  of  the  truth  of  his 
statement. 

Two  of  the  pillars  of  this  mosque  were  originally  taken  from 
the  ruins  of  Baalbek  to  Rome,  and  then  from  Rome  brought  to 
this  church.  Two  of  them  came  from  Jerusalem.  It  is  wonderful 
how  many  of  these  massive  pillars  have  been  transported  over 
land  and  sea,  as  the  result  of  war  changed  the  fortunes  of  emi)ires 
and  nations. 

Hanging  up  upon  the  wall  of  this  mosque  is  a  prayer-ear  pet 
1,320  years  old,  said  to  have  been  used  by  Mohammed  the  First. 
I  estimated  it  as  ten  V)y  twenty  feet  in  dimensions.  It  may  not 
have  been  quite  so  large. 

In  the  end  of  the  mosque  toward  Mecca  are  two  wax  eandles, 
said  to  be  solid  wax,  eighteen  feet  in  height,  and  eighteen  inches 
in  diameter  at  the  base.  They  are  lit  once  a  year,  in  the  month 
Ramazan. 

Hanging  on  the  wall  is  a  holy  stone,  said  to  have  been  brought 
from  Mecca.  It  is  several  feet  square,  and  highly  pol.shed.  Clean 
handkerchiefs  are  carefully  rul)bed  over  the  surface  of  this  stone 
and  then  crumpled  up  in  the  hand,  held  firmly,  and  taken  to  the 
sick,  and  a  touch  is  said  to  heal  them.  So  we  see  tliat  all  the 
superstition  is  not  confined  to  the  Christian  church. 

When  we  took  a  trip  up  the  Golden  Horn,  we  passed  a  Turkish 
cemetery  where  tens  of  thousands  are  buried,  some  of  them  in 
vaults  like  rooms.  In  one  of  these,  a  celebrated  howling  dervish 
is  buried.  The  vault  has  a  window,  facing  on  the  street,  grated 
with  wire  gauze  with  meshes  half  an  inch  in  size.  The  whole 
surface  of  this  window,  from  top  to  bottom,  is  literally  frazzled 
with  tiny  bits  of  rags,  and  threads  of  garments  tied  there  by  those 
afflicted  with  fever,  plague,  or  whatever  ailment  they  may  have; 
the  poor,  deluded  creatures  hoping  thus  to  be  cured  of  their  ills 
and  infirmities.  These  shreds  are  lorn  from  their  own  garments, 
and  tied  here,  in  faith  of  healing  from  the  dead  body  of  this 
sainted  dervish. 


112  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 


HOWLING   DERVISHES. 


While  speaking  of  the  howling  dervishes,  let  me  tell  you,  if 
possible,  of  their  iDerformance  as  witnessed  by  us;  for  the  scene 
is  beyond  my  powers  of  description.  The  whole  thing  must  be 
seen  to  be  understood  or  appreciated. 

We  took  a  boat  and  went  across  the  Bosphorus  to  a  town  in 
Asia  Minor  called  Scutari.  We  first  went  through  the  English 
Crimean  cemetery,  where  over  six  thousand  brave  English 
soldiers,  who  fell  in  the  Crimean  War,  are  buried.  Not  far  from 
this  resting-place  of  the  English  dead,  is  a  Turkish  cemetery, 
that  has  been  in  use  for  ages.  Tall  cypress  trees  stand  thick  all 
through  it.  I  was  told  that  more  than  five  millions  of  dead 
bodies  lie  in  this  cemetery;  and  as  I  looked  at  the  forest  of  grave- 
stones that  bristle  like  hoar  frost  over  the  hundreds  of  acres,  and 
know  that  they  lie  buried  one  above  another,  three  and  four  deep, 
I  could  well  believe  it.  On  the  edge  of  this  cemetery  of  the  cen- 
turies are  the  lepers'  quarters.  We  looked  in  as  we  passed,  and 
saw  men,  women,  and  children  crowded  in  these  quarters,  ex- 
cluded from  all  association  with  the  outside  world,  as  if  buried 
before  they  were  dead,  right  on  the  borders  of  the  charnel-house, 
where  dissolution  will  complete  the  work  commenced  in  their 
rot.ing  bodies,  before  death  has  loosed  all  the  bands  of  life.  Our 
guide  placed  some  coin  on  the  top  of  a  post,  and  called  to  them. 
A  man  came  out  as  we  drove  off,  and,  raising  a  hand,  from  which 
the  fingers  had  dropped,  saluted  him  with  thanks.  In  a  few 
minutes'  drive  we  reached  the  howling  dervishes'  quarters.  It 
was  a  good-sized  room,  with  a  railing  round  two  sides,  some  six 
feet  from  the  wall.  This  space  was  for  the  spectators.  On  the 
side  toward  Mecca  was  something  like  an  altar,  with  rugs  spread 
before  it.  The  other  side  was  for  the  entrance  of  the  dervishes. 
The  floor  was  bare,  but  near  the  middle  several  sheepskins  were 
spread,  in  two  rows.  Upon  these  kneeled  six  men,  three  on  a 
side,  facing  each  other,  with  the  space  of  but  a  few  feet  between 
them.  Eight  men  with  white  skull-caps  on  their  heads  stood  in 
a  row  at  the  far  side  of  the  room,  facing  the  altar.  A  large,  very 
black  negro,  at  least  six  feet  four  inches  tall,  with  a  loose  black 
robe,  and  heavy  turban  on  his  head,  stood  near,  facing  them. 
Soon  the  six  kneeling  men  began  a  low  wailing  chant,  perfectly 


My  Trh'  to  thk  Orient.  115 

rhythmical  in  its  movement,  to  which  the  eight  men  responded 
by  swaying  their  bodies,  first  from  side  to  side,  and  then  back 
and  forth,  humming  in  unison  to  the  chant  of  the  six.  At  times 
they  bent  their  bodies  until  their  foreheads  almost  touched  the 
floor.  Then  they  would  fairly  swing  their  heads,  first  over  the 
right,  then  over  the  left  shoulder.  This  exercise  became  more 
and  more  violent,  and  the  howl  waxed  louder  and  louder.  Soon 
the  big  negro  laid  aside  his  black  robe  and  his  big  turban,  reveal- 
ing a  light-colored  striped  robe  as  long  as  the  black  one,  and  a 
white  cap  like  the  rest.  He  took  a  position  as  the  center  of  the 
row.  It  took  but  a  few  moments  for  him  to  work  himself  into  a 
fever  of  excitement,  and,  negro-like,  he  entered  the  lists  for  all 
that  was  in  it.  His  long,  lithe  body  seemed  as  if  made  of  india- 
rubber.  He  could  throw  his  face  to  within  a  few  degrees  of  where 
the  back  of  his  head  ought  to  be,  and  bring  it  back  with  a  swing 
that  would  turn  it  as  far  over  the  other  shoulder.  You  could  hear 
his  howl  above  the  combined  notes  of  all  the  others.  At  times  the 
howl  would  give  place  to  a  sort  of  explosive  grunt  as  the  head 
swung  over  the  shoulder.  There  were  a  number  seated  on  mats 
and  sheepskins  round  the  room,  and  they  would  often  sway  from 
side  to  side  and  join  in  the  howl.  The  old  sheik,  or  high  priest, 
was  moving  about  the  altar,  performing  some  sort  of  ceremony. 
The  negro,  especially,  became  more  and  more  excited.  The  sweat 
rolled  in  rivulets  down  his  face  and  neck.  As  he  howled  and 
grunted,  the  slobber  and  sweat  were  thrown  from  him  until  the 
gentlemen  and  ladies  who  stood  immediately  behind  him  had  to 
seek  another  point  of  observation,  to  keep  from  being  spattered. 
Not  a  moment's  rest,  not  a  moment's  cessation,  in  the  awful  strain 
to  which  they  subjected  themselves.  When  more  than  half  an 
hour  had  passed,  and  no  respite,  I  asked,  Can  human  nature  bear 
up  much  longer  under  this  strain?  I  noticed  one  man  begin  to 
grow  unsteady  on  his  legs.  His  howl  seemed  to  die  on  liis  lips, 
when  at  last  he  came  down  on  his  face  in  a  faint.  Two  men  went 
to  him,  but  he  was  unconscious.  They  rubbed  his  hands  and 
arms,  and  after  a  time  he  opened  his  eyes,  and  groaned  like  a 
dying  man.  We  could  easily  distinguish  the  noise  he  made  from 
the  louder,  united  howl  of  the  others.  After  some  minutes  he 
revived  sufficiently  to  stand  up,  and  as  soon  as  he  was  able  took 
his  place  again  in  line,  and  resumed  his  exercise,  but  I  could  see 


116  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

that  it  was  feebly  done.  This  incident  did  not  make  a  ripple  on 
the  surface  of  the  scene,  so  far  as  the  dervishes  were  concerned. 
In  fact,  had  he  died  it  would  have  been  looked  upon  as  rendering 
the  thing  more  sacred,  and  this  man  a  saint.  One  of  the  nine, 
who  had  long,  snaky  hair,  either  accidentally  or  on  purpose 
shook  off  his  cap,  then,  as  he  would  jerk  his  head  forward,  the 
tangled  mass  of  hair  would  fall  all  over  his  face;  then  the  next 
jerk  would  send  it  over  his  shoulders.  He  presented  a  most 
repulsive  sight.  After  a  time  he  retired  without  ceremony.  But 
on  the  others  went,  until  one  of  them,  who  stood  in  front  of  a 
post,  struck  his  head  against  it,  and  in  the  next  moment  he  reeled 
and  fell  on  his  face  with  a  yell  that  was  startling.  Two  men  took 
hold  of  him,  and  he  struggled  like  a  madman,  yelling  "Allah" 
at  the  top  of  his  voice  His  face  had  the  most  demoniacal  ex- 
pression I  ever  saw.  It  was  positively  frightful.  I  thought  his 
mind  had  given  way  under  the  awful  strain,  and  that  he  was  a 
raving  maniac.  They  held  him  for  a  while,  when  he  began  to 
make  a  noise  like  a  dying  bullock.  Neither  did  this  incident 
cause  the  least  interruption  in  the  ceremony.  This  fellow  also 
calmed  down,  and  after  a  while  took  his  place  in  line,  and  again 
joined  in  the  howl. 

In  the  mean  time  the  old  sheik  was  working  with  some  de- 
canters of  water,  and  some  handkerchiefs  and  children's  clothes 
that  had  been  sent  in  from  the  sick.  He  walked  in  front  of  the 
line  of  howlers,  and  between  the  six  seated  on  the  sheepskins,  and 
held  up  the  water  and  clothes,  and  then  returned  to  the  altar. 
Two  of  those  that  had  been  in  line,  and  four  others,  came  forward 
and  threw  themselves  on  their  faces  as  close  together  as  they 
could  lie,  in  front  of  the  sheik.  He  deliberately  stepped  upon 
their  prostrate  bodies  and  walked  from  one  to  the  other,  on  their 
hips,  then,  turning  while  standing  on  the  last  man,  walked  back 
on  their  shoulders.  They  then  rose,  reverently  kissed  his  hand, 
and  two  of  them  fell  on  their  knees  and  kissed  his  feet.  Then 
six  more  came  like  the  others  and  threw  themselves  on  their 
backs  before  the  sheik.  He  walked  on  these  as  he  did  on  the 
others.  One  old  fellow,  whose  head  was  quite  gray,  became  ex- 
cited, and  after  he  had  been  walked  upon,  bumped  his  head 
several  times  against  the  bare  floor,  hard  enough,  it  seemed  to 
me,  to  addle  his  brains,  if  he  had  any. 


My  Trip  to  thk  Okiknt.  Ill) 

Two  children,  perhaps  eighteen  months  old,  were  hrou^dit  in, 
and  when  they  saw  the  sheik,  they  screamed  as  if  they  would  go 
into  fits.  One  was  taken  out,  but  the  other  was  held  toward  the 
sheik,  who  looked  into  its  eyes,  as  if  to  charm  it,  but  whenever 
he  approached  it,  it  would  throw  its  head  ui)on  the  man's  shoulder 
and  scream. 

After  seeing  what  I  did  suljsequently,  I  wondered  if  the  old  fc^ol 
had  not  also  walked  on  them,  and  they  wanted  no  more  of  it. 
My  readers  may  think  I  have  used  the  term  "fool"  unadvisedly. 
In  a  few  minutes  after  this,  four  little  children  from  six  to  eight 
years  of  age  came  in,  and  three  of  them  lay  down  on  the  floor,  and 
the  old  sheik  deliberately  stepped  with  all  his  weight  on  their  prois- 
trate  bodies  and  walked  across  them.  I  could  see  the  face  of  one 
of  them,  and  it  had  an  expression  of  perfect  terror  in  it.  I  could 
but  feel  sad  and  sick  at  heart,  and  say,  "  How  long,  0  Lord,  shall 
this  gross  darkness  rest  upon  this  benighted  land?" 

After  nearly  an  hour,  the  line  of  howlers  became  quiet.  The 
big  negro,  who,  I  was  told,  is  a  colonel  in  the  Turkish  army,  sat 
down  to  rest,  but  not  to  cease  to  sweat.  He  pulled  out  an  im- 
mense handkerchief  and  mopped  away  with  it,  but  he  might  as 
well  have  tried  to  wipe  a  spring  dry.  He  had  gotten  up  such  a 
great  head  of  steam,  that  it  took  some  time  to  cool  his  boiler. 

The  next  day  we  went  to  see  the  whirling  dervishes.  We  did 
not  see  the  beginning  of  their  exercises.  They  were  in  a  large 
circular  room,  and  some  nineteen  were  up,  Avhirling  like  tops. 
They  lifted  their  arms  in  a  most  graceful  manner,  and  whirled 
the  whole  body  around  as  steadily  as  if  they  were  on  a  pivot. 
They  wore  very  full  white  skirts,  that  came  below  the  knees. 
When  whirling,  these  skirts  stood  out  at  an  angle  of  perhaps 
forty-five  degrees  or  more.  All  were  barefooted,  and  as  the 
whole  nineteen  were  whirling  noiselessly  at  the  same  tinu-,  it 
made  a  very  pretty  sight.  When  the  whirl  was  over,  each  one 
went  to  the  sheik  and  kissed  his  hand.  Then  each  passed  the 
other  and  kissed  him  on  the  cheek,  and  passed  out,  and  tin-  show 
was  over. 

THK    SULTAN. 

On  Friday,  which  is  the  Mohammedan  Sunday,  we  went  to  see 
the  Sultan  of  all  the  Turks  go  to  his  mosque  to  say  his  i)rayers. 


120  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

The  mosque  is  near  his  palace,  and  the  event  is  one  of  great  im- 
portance. Eight  thousand  or  ten  thousand  soldiers  turn  out  in 
their  best  uniforms.  The  street  leading  from  the  golden  gate  of 
the  palace  to  the  mosque  is  sprinkled  with  clean  sand  just  before 
the  hour  for  prayer.  It  is  sprinkled  its  entire  width,  taking 
man}^  cart-loads  of  sand,  and  just  before  the  carriage  passes 
over  it,  men  are  employed  sweeping  it  smooth  with  brooms. 

We  went  to  our  point  of  observation  more  than  an  hour  before- 
hand. Leaving  our  carriages  at  a  good  place  from  which  to  see 
the  Sultan  when  he  passed  down  the  street,  we  walked  up  in  front 
of  the  golden  gate.  Everything  that  could  be  done  to  make  this 
gate  beautiful  has  been  done.  An  hour  before  twelve,  — the  hour 
of  prayer,  — the  foreign  ambassadors,  legates,  and  consuls  began  to 
arrive,  also  all  the  generals  of  the  Turkish  army,  —  in  fact,  all  the 
dignitaries  of  the  empire  who  were  in  Constantinople  were  pres- 
ent. Innumerable  officers  in  bright  uniforms  were  passing  and 
repassing  for  more  than  an  hour.  Then  company  after  company, 
and  regiment  after  regiment,  came  with  bands  and  banners,  until 
the  air  was  full  of  music,  and  all  a-flutter  with  banners  and  pen- 
nants, and  every  street  was  crowded  with  soldiers,  some  on  foot 
and  some  on  horseback.  There  was  one  regiment  of  lancers  on 
horseback,  each  soldier  bearing  a  long  lance,  from  which  floated 
a  red  Turkish  pennant,  triangular  in  shape,  bearing  the  crescent 
and  star  in  white.  About  the  palace,  regiment  after  regiment 
was  massed,  all  in  the  most  beautiful  uniforms.  In  due  time  all 
who  did  not  belong  on  the  street—  we  were  of  that  number  — were 
ordered  off.  We  went  to  our  carriages,  occupying  a  commanding 
view  of  that  portion  of  the  street  down  which  the  Sultan's  carriage 
was  to  pass.  One  of  our  party  had  a  kodak.  A  secret  policeman 
came  and  had  it  put  out  of  sight.  No  one  is  allowed  to  point 
even  a  cane  or  umbrella  during  the  procession.  Three  minutes 
before  twelve,  a  man  appeared  in  the  minaret,  ready  at  the  exact 
moment  to  call  the  faithful  to  prayers.  At  last  the  palace  gate 
swung  open.  The  man  in  the  minaret  gave  a  long,  weird  call  in 
a  sing-song  tone,  that  reached  the  ear  of  every  one,  and  out  came 
a  richly  adorned  carriage,  bearing,  we  were  told,  the  Sultan's 
mother,  and  some  other  members  of  the  royal  family.  These 
were  permitted  to  drive  up  to  the  door  of  the  mosque,  but  not  to 
enter.     As  soon  as  the  carriage  reached  the  door,  the  horses  were 


My  Trip  to  thk  Okiknt.  TJij 

quickly  taken  from  it  and  led  away.  Thc-ii  came  a  carriage, 
made  as  beautiful  as  art  could  devise,  grooni.snien  in  gorgeous 
uniforms  walking  by  the  horses,  on  each  side,  with  the  Sultan 
seated  alone  on  the  back  seat.  Two  officers  sat  in  front  of  him. 
He  wore  on  his  head  what  appeared  to  be  a  red  fez,  or  cap.  As 
he  passed  downi  the  street,  he  bowed  and  waved  his  hand  several 
times  to  those  near  him.  Shouts  broke  from  the  vast  crowds 
of  soldiery  and  people,  that  formed  a  solid  mass  in  all  the  streets 
round  about  the  mosque.  We  got  a  good  look  at  His  Royal 
Highness.  A  rich  carpet  was  spread  upon  the  steps  of  the  mosque 
for  the  Sultan  to  walk  upon.  What  was  done  in  the  inside  we 
could  not  see,  and  did  not  know.  But  we  thought  it  a  great  ado 
to  make  over  one  man's  prayers.  Every  Friday  this  scene  is 
re-enacted. 

After  the  Sultan  entered  the  mosque,  a  saddle-horse  with  gilded 
trappings  was  led  to  the  door  to  wait  the  pleasure  of  His  Highness; 
for  no  one  knows  whether  he  will  choose  to  return  to  his  palace 
in  his  carriage  or  on  horseback,  so  every  preparation  is  made  for 
any  whim.  We  did  not  wait  to  see  what  he  would  do,  but  re- 
turned to  our  hotel,  thanking  God  that  we  had  been  taught  a 
better  way,  and  that  "God  is  no  respecter  of  persons:  but  in 
every  nation  he  that  feareth  him,  and  worketh  righteousness,  is 
accept  with  him." 

I  was  struck  with  the  dress  and  appearance  of  the  soldiers, 
and  said  to  our  guide,  who  is  himself  a  subject  of  the  Sultan, 
"These  soldiers  must  be  well  paid."  —  "No,"  said  he;  "they  re- 
ceive but  one  medjidie  [about  one  dollar]  per  month,  and  some- 
times they  are  not  paid  for  eighteen  months."  — '"But,"  I  said, 
"they  are  well  fed."  —  "No;  very  poorly.  But  they  are  loyal  to 
their  country,  and  are  willing  to  tight  and  die  for  their  Sultan." 

Such  a  country  I  have  never  seen.  Blessed  with  a  climate 
almost  unsurpassed  in  the  world,  Avith  much  of  her  soil  of  the 
best,  on  the  highways  of  commerce  between  the  East  and  the 
West,  with  millions  of  people  under  her  dominion,  and  yet  her 
roads  are  rough,  unworked  trails  running  over  mountain  and  dale, 
where  they  were  located  thousands  of  years  ago. 

Constantinople,  located  on  the  Golden  Horn  and  tlie  Bosi)horus, 
with  unsurpassed  advantages,  and  a  population  of  over  a  mil- 
lion, has  only  two  insignificant  factories,  —  one   for  the  nianu- 


124  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

facture  of  glass,  and  the  other  of  cotton  goods.  With  streams  of 
clear,  good  water  all  around  her,  they  drank  of  the  rain-water 
collected  from  the  roofs  of  their  houses,  in  cisterns,  for  centuries, 
until  French  capital  put  in  an  aqueduct  and  brought  in  an  un- 
limited supply  of  fresh  water,  only  a  few  years  ago.  With  electric 
power  at  their  door,  and  petroleum  to  be  had  for  a  song,  the 
rooms  of  their  best  hotels  are  lighted  with  candles  alone.  The 
.Sultan  can  spend  tens  of  thousands  on  a  parade  at  his  weekly 
prayers,  but  never  a  dollar  to  improve  the  highways  of  his  do- 
minion, or  add  to  the  comfort  of  his  people.  Living  in  splendor 
himself,  with  a  family  of  two  thousand  wives,  and  with  all  the 
nations  of  Europe  propping  up  his  throne,  why  need  he  care  for 
the  welfare  of  his  subjects? 

We  visited  the  great  cistern  underlying  the  Stamboul  side  of 
the  city,  called  the  "  Cistern  of  a  Thousand  and  One  Columns." 
Our  guide  had  a  man  wrap  a  large  piece  of  sacking  saturated 
with  coal-oil  round  an  iron  rod,  and,  lighting  this,  we  went  down 
a  series  of  stone  steps,  and  by  its  light  viewed  a  small  section  of 
the  vast  cavern.  Long  rows  of  stone  columns  stretched  away 
into  the  darkness.  A  few  feet  of  water  stood  above  the  slush  and 
earth  that  filled  the  bottom  to  a  depth  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet. 
Parts  of  this  vast  cistern  were  cleared  out  years  ago,  and  some 
silk- weavers  established  their  looms;  but  some  one  reported  to 
the  Sultan  that  these  poor,  miserable  people  were  making  bombs, 
and  they  were  driven  out,  and  that  part  of  the  cistern  was  closed. 

The  week  we  spent  in  Constantinople  was  crowded  with  inter- 
est, and  at  the  same  time  my  heart  was  often  made  sad  at  what 
I  saw  and  heard.  There  is  enough  of  truth,  and  even  righteous- 
ness, in  the  Mohammedan  religion  to  make  it  more  difficult  to 
displace  it  with  the  spiritual  worship  of  God  through  Jesus  Christ, 
than  if  they  had  no  religion  at  all.  Then  the  type  of  Christianity 
by  which  they  are  surrounded,  with  its  altars,  its  images,  its 
candles,  and  its  venerated  relics  and  crucifixes,  its  indulgences 
and  its  penances,  put  in  contrast  with  their  faith  in  one  God  and 
one  prophet,  makes  it  harder  still. 

SMYRNA.  — GRAVE   OF   POLYCARP. 

The  second  day  after  leaving  Constantinople,  we  reached 
Smyrna,  where  our  ship  lay  for  several  hours,  putting  off  and 


TOiMB    OF    POI.YCARI".    SMYKNA.     ASIA     Ml\'>|{ 


My  Trip  to  tiik  Orient.  127 

taking  on  cargo.  We  embraced  the  opportunity  of  taking  a  run 
on  shore,  and  seeing  what  we  could  of  this  one  of  the  cities  of  the 
seven  churches  in  Asia  to  whom  letters  were  sent.  Learning  that 
the  Christian  martyr  Polycarp,  one  of  the  fathers,  and  a  disciple 
of  John,  was  buried  here,  we  hired  a  carriage  and  drove  up  the 
hill  that  rises  back  of  the  city,  and  found  his  tomb.  It  is  marked 
by  a  monument  of  stone,  perhaps  ten  by  five  feet,  and  nearly  six 
feet  high.  It  is  covered  with  cement  and  is  neatly  whitewashed. 
They  say  there  is  but  little  doubt  but  this  is  the  actual  place  of 
his  burial.     A  great  city  lies  beneath  his  resting-place. 

We  passed  Patmos  at  night,  and  I  did  not  see  it.  About  noon 
we  passed  Coos.  Sailing  under  Cyprus,  we  had  that  island  in 
sight  for  several  hours. 

BEIRUT. 

We  reached  Beirut,  Friday  morning,  October  11th.  The  ladies 
of  our  party  did  some  shopping  in  the  morning.  In  the  after- 
noon our  dragoman  had  our  horses  brought  out  for  trial.  He 
had  carefully  selected  them  in  Jerusalem,  and  brought  them  over 
to  Beirut  for  us.     His  name  is  Seleh  el  Karey. 

He  w^'is  born  at  Shechem,  is  six  feet  six  inches  high,  and  weighs 
about  three  hvmdred  pounds,  with  no  surplus  flesh.  He  is  the 
most  powerful  man  I  ever  saw,  and  does  not  seem  to  know  his 
own  strength.  His  dress  is  purely  Oriental.  He  wears  a  turban, 
and  his  pants,  if  such  they  may  be  called,  flow  down  between 
his  feet,  within  three  inches  of  the  ground.  They  were  gathered 
thick  about  the  waist,  both  before  and  behind,  and  were  of  the 
finest  material.  One  or  two  pair  were  of  silk.  One  of  the  ladies 
asked  him  how  many  yards  were  in  a  single  pair,  and  he  said 
twenty-seven.  He  wore  a  sword  in  proportion  to  his  size,  and  a 
pistol  at  his  belt.  He  is  in  great  favor  wath  the  sheiks  through 
whose  territory  we  are  to  pass,  and  this  insures  us  perfect  safety. 
He  knows  every  road  and  village  in  the  land,  and  seems  to  have 
the  right  of  way  everywhere.  He  goes  right  into  orchards  and 
olive-yards,  where  we  eat  our  lunch  or  pitch  our  tents.  We  usu- 
ally camp  near  some  village,  and  he  hires  some  one  of  the  place 
to  patrol  our  camp  while  we  are  asleep.  This  always  gives  him 
favor  with  the  people. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church  in  Shechem,  and  seems 


128  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

to  be  a  devout,  consistent  Christian.  Miss  Redford,  who  has 
charge  of  our  party,  has  had  him  with  her  several  times,  and  says 
he  is  a  gentleman  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  and  thoroughly 
trustworthy.  But  his  traits  will  be  developed  as  we  proceed  with 
these  notes. 

When  our  horses  were  brought  up,  he  selected  such  as  he 
thought  would  suit  each  one.  When  the  ladies  came  to  mount, 
a  muleteer  stood  at  the  head  of  the  horse,  while  "  Solie,"  as  his 
first  name  is  pronounced,  took  the  lady  up  in  his  hand  as  if  she 
were  a  little  child,  and  set  her  on  the  horse.  I  stood  by  and 
watched  the  operation.  There  did  not  seem  to  be  the  least  effort 
on  his  part.  One  lady  was  not  seated  to  her  notion  in  the  saddle, 
when  he  lifted  her  off,  holding  her  up  as  if  she  were  a  babe, 
arranged  her  skirts  and  set  her  back  on  the  horse  without  placing 
her  on  the  ground.  One  of  the  ladies  weighs  over  two  hundred 
pounds.  He  lifted  her  to  the  saddle  with  seemingly  as  little  ef- 
fort as  he  had  lifted  any  of  the  others. 

Our  first  ride  was  to  the  Protestant  College,  under  the  presi- 
dency of  Dr.  Daniel  Bliss.  For  forty-six  years  he  has  been  strug- 
gling with  this  school,  and  has  made  it  a  power  in  this  land. 
The  day  we  visited  the  school  they  were  just  organizing,  as  this 
was  the  second  day  of  the  term.  They  had  415  the  first  day, 
and  expected  to  have  fully  600  before  the  term  closed.  They 
have  pupils  from  all  parts  of  Syria,  some  from  Greece,  and  many 
from  Egypt.  Many  Mohammedans  attend  the  school.  The 
Bible  and  its  teachings  are  made  prominent.  All  the  pupils  are 
required  to  attend  daily  prayers,  and  services  on  Sundays. 

I  met  several  graduates  of  the  institution,  on  the  steamers. 
They  had  all  learned  to  speak  English,  and  spoke  in  the  highest 
terms  of  their  alma  mater. 

We  found  Dr.  Bliss  a  white-haired  veteran,  sweet  of  spirit, 
polite  and  courteous,  and  in  great  favor  with  both  teachers  and 
pupils. 

There  are  quite  a  number  of  stone  buildings  already  erected, 
and  others  in  process  of  erection.  It  is  like  "planting  a  hand- 
ful of  corn  upon  the  mountain,"  and  we  trust  it  may  yet  "wave 
like  Lebanon." 

We  rode  some  five  or  six  miles  to  try  our  horses,  and  they  be- 
haved very  well,  except  one,  which  kicked  one  of  the  Arabs  over, 
who  was  trotting  along  behind  him,  urging  him  to  a  better  gait. 


Mv  Tkip  to  thk  Okikxt.  l"Ji) 


BAAIJIEK. 

Our  i)lrtn  was  to  begin  our  horseback-ride  from  Beirut,  to  end 
at  Jerusalem.  But  we  changed  our  puri)ose  somewiiat,  sent  tlie 
horses  on  ahead  with  our  contingent  of  twenty- three  Arabs,  wliile 
we  went  some  distance  by  rail  to  a  point  near  Baall)ek.  Just  at 
sundown  we  reached  our  camp  near  Baallx'k  with  its  wonderful 
ruins. 

We  had  passed  over  a  part  of  the  Lebanon  range  and  up 
through  a  broad  plain  lying  between  Lebanon  and  Anti- Lebanon. 
We  here  noticed  a  circumstance  that  we  found  to  prevail  all  over 
Syria  and  Palestine.  There  are  no  farm-houses,  —  no  families  live 
out  in  the  country;  but  they  all  live  in  towns  and  villages,  and 
go  out  in  the  morning  to  their  work,  and  return  in  the  evening. 
This  fact  turns  light  upon  an  expression  frequently  found  in  the 
Scriptures;  such  as,  he  "sent  his  disciples  into  the  towns  whither 
he  himself  would  come,"  and  "I  must  go  to  other  towns."  The 
people  were  all  living  in  towns,  and  to  preach  to  people  in  the 
towns  was  to  reach  all.  It  has  always  been  dangerous  to  live  in 
the  country,  and  not  less  so  now  than  formerly.  In  going  up 
this  beautiful  valley  we  saw  our  first  camp  of  Bedouins,  or  "  sons 
of  the  desert."  I  counted  some  thirty  of  their  black  tents,  and 
thought  of  the  expression,  "black  as  the  tents  of  Kedar." 

Just  like  their  fathers  of  three  thousand  years  ago,  they  make 
their  tents  of  the  same  material,  and  have  no  certain  dwelling- 
place.  Their  camels  were  roaming  about  over  the  plains,  and 
here  and  there  we  could  see  their  horse?  and  asses. 

Baalbek  is  now  an  insignificant  place,  with  houses  built  of  ma- 
terial, much  of  which  has  been  taken  from  some  of  the  grandest 
buildings  in  the  world.  In  fact,  for  ages  the  ruins  of  Baalbek 
have  been  a  veritable  quarry,  from  which  have  been  taken  the 
choicest  pillars,  stones,  and  images  with  which  to  build  and 
ornament  cities  and  temples  both  in  Asia  and  Europe. 

Our  camp  was  pitched  near  a  great  fountain,  or  spring,  that 
breaks  out  at  the  foot  of  a  mountain,  forming  a  river  without  the 
aid  of  tributaries.  Mills  are  run  by  its  waters  not  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  from  the  spring.  We  could  not  but  admire  our  tents.  They 
were  made  of  the  very  best  material,  and  lined  with  patchwork 
of  the  most  elaborate  patterns.     They  remind  one  of  a ''crazy- 


130  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

quilt,"  except  that  there  was  much  of  order  in  the  placing  of  the 
pieces  and  the  arrangement  of  the  many  bright  colors  that  com- 
pose it.  My  tent  was  made  of  twelve  main  sections,  running  to 
a  point  at  the  apex.  I  counted  the  number  of  pieces  in  one  of 
these  sections,  and  then  estimated  the  number  in  the  tent.  There 
were  4,620.  Each  piece  was  sewed  upon  a  background,  and  I  was 
told  the  whole  was  done  by  men. 

It  is  astonishing  how  quickly  these  tents  are  pitched  and  struck 
by  our  Arab  attendants.  As  soon  as  we  are  through  with  them 
in  the  morning,  they  are  taken  down,  rolled  up,  and  packed  upon 
horses  and  asses.  Our  valises  aud  traveling-bags  are  carefully 
placed  in  waterproof  bags,  and  packed  in  the  same  way.  Great 
boxes  of  dishes  and  table-ware,  with  stoves  and  cooking  utensils, 
are  alike  piled  upon  these  patient  little  animals,  and  packed  over 
the  roughest  road  leading  over  the  highest  mountains,  and  if 
anything  has  ever  been  broken  or  injured,  I  have  not  heard  of  it. 
We  are  not  afraid  of  losing  the  smallest  thing. 

Miss  E.  Redford,  who  has  charge  of  our  party,  and  who  has 
conducted  several  other  parties  through  Palestine,  told  me  of  an 
interesting  incident.  Two  young  men  of  the  party,  going  to  take 
a  swim  in  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  left  their  watches  in  her  care,  —  one 
a  very  valuable  one.  The  young  men  failed  to  call  for  their 
watches  that  night,  and  she  placed  them,  with  her  own,  under 
her  pillow.  The  next  morning  they  broke  camp  very  early,  and 
she  forgot  all  about  the  watches  until  they  had  been  riding  several 
hours.  When  she  discovered  her  oversight,  she  called  to  Solie, 
who  was  then  her  dragoman,  as  now,  and  told  him  about  it.  He 
told  her  to  rest  perfectly  easy;  she  should  find  them  under  her 
pillow  that  night  when  she  got  to  camp.  When  they  rode  up  to 
their  camping-place,  they  found  all  the  tents  pitched.  She  rushed 
in  and  felt  under  her  pillow,  and  there  were  the  three  watches, 
just  as  she  left  them. 

We  spent  the  Sabbath  at  Baalbek.  All  of  our  party  mounted 
their  horses  and  rode  over  to  view  the  ruins.  I  could  not  recon- 
cile it  to  my  conscience  to  go;  so  remained  in  camp  until  their 
return.     We  had  preaching  in  camp  at  one  o'clock. 

On  the  preceding  Saturday  night,  as  Miss  Redford,  Solie,  and 
I  were  discussing  the  Sunday  excursion  to  the  ruins,  I  told  them 
that  the  first  ruins  I  ever  heard  of  when  a  boy  were  the  ruins  of 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  131 

Baalbek,  and  that  even  then  as  I  read  a  description  of  them,  I 
felt  a  desire  to  see  them.  But  although  within  a  few  miles  of 
them,  if  my  only  chance  to  see  them  was  by  going  on  the  Sabbath, 
I  would  pass  them  by,  and  deny  myself.  Then  was  manifested 
the  nobility  of  Solie,  that  never  lost  any  of  its  luster  during  the 
entire  trip.  We  were  to  start  Monday  morning  by  6:30.  He 
said,  "  Doctor,  you  shall  seethe  ruins;  I  will  get  up  at  four  o'clock, 
Monday  morning,  and  go  with  you."  I  told  him  I  appreciated 
his  kindness,  but  that  I  would  not  hinder  the  rest  of  the  party  a 
moment  for  my  pleasure.  He  said  he  would  be  back  in  time. 
Accordingly,  he  and  I  were  in  the  saddle  while  the  stars  were 
still  shining,  and  by  the  time  day  was  fully  abroad  I  was  amid 
the  grandest  ruins  I  had  yet  seen.  The  Temple  of  Jupiter  and 
the  Temple  of  the  Sun  were  larger  and  more  magnificent  than 
anything  of  the  kind,  either  in  Europe  or  Asia.  Very  much  had 
been  recently  uncovered.  In  fact,  the  archaeologists  are  even 
now  at  work.  The  Rev.  William  Jessup,  a  missionary,  son  of 
Dr.  Jessup,  who  has  been  on  this  field  as  a  missionary  for  forty 
years,  in  visiting  me  Sunday  afternoon  told  me  that  there  was  an 
immense  keystone  that  could  not  be  lifted  without  the  aid  of 
jacks;  that  the  manager  had  borrowed  some  from  the  railroad 
company,  who  could  spare  them  only  on  Sunday.  He  had  a 
number  of  men  working  for  him,  and  the  only  man  who  refused 
to  work  on  the  Lord's  day  was  a  native  Syrian.  He  went  to 
church.  But  to  return  to  my  visit  to  the  ruins.  We  were  the 
first  on  the  ground.  We  startled  an  owl  from  his  home  among 
the  great  carved  stones  that  rested  on  the  few  remaining  pillars 
of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter,  bringing  to  mind  the  prediction  of  the 
prophet  with  reference  to  the  temples  of  the  idols  being  given  up 
to  the  owls  and  the  bats,  these  creatures  of  the  night.  Here  was 
a  temple,  that  in  its  perfection  and  glory  exceeded  any  building 
of  the  kind  that  the  world  had  ever  produced,  enough  of  it  being 
left  after  the  sweep  of  centuries  to  strike  the  beholder  with  awe 
and  admiration.  Great  pillars  of  the  purest  and  best  marble, 
some  sixty  feet  high  and  six  feet  in  diameter,  made  in  the  highest 
style  of  the  art,  crowned  with  capitals  of  exquisite  workmanship; 
others,  some  six  in  number,  seventy  feet  high  and  seven  feet 
in  diameter.  From  the  plan  of  the  building  as  revealed  by  the 
spade  of  the  archaeologist,  there  were  originally  fifty  columns  of 


132  My  Trip  to  the  (3kient. 

this  latter  size.  Enough  was  left  to  give  an  idea  of  the  stupen- 
dous grandeur  of  the  building,  and  the  utter  desolation  that  lay- 
all  about  these  silent  witnesses  of  its  former  grandeur,  made 
the  picture  complete.  Of  all  the  ruins  I  had  visited  from  Rome 
to  this  place,  these  struck  me  as  the  greatest. 

Baalbek  was  once  a  great  city.  Standing  at  the  head  of  the 
great  valley  lying  between  the  Lebanon  and  Anti-Lebanon  ranges 
of  mountains,  at  the  fountain  of  the  river  bearing  the  same  name, 
being  right  on  the  great  artery  of  commerce  between  the  East  and 
the  West,  it  was  at  one  time  one  of  the  busiest  and  most  important 
cities  of  the  Old  World.  Beneath  the  soil,  on  every  hand  lie 
streets,  and  homes,  and  palaces  that  have  been  V)uried  for  cen- 
turies. 

An  object-lesson  was  given  us  of  how  this  and  other  cities  have 
been  buried  in  this  land.  Some  ten  days  before  our  arrival,  a 
fearful  storm  and  cloudburst  had  struck  the  mountains  round 
about.  It  tore  great  rents  in  the  mountain  sides,  and  brought 
down  hundreds  of  thousands  of  tons  of  rock  and  earth.  I  saw 
places  in  the  valley  where  hundreds  of  acres  of  land  had  been 
covered  with  rocks.  Six  persons,  four  horses,  and  a  number  of 
sheep  and  goats  in  Baalbek  and  vicinity  were  drowned,  and  the 
carcasses  of  the  animals  still  lay  near  the  city.  In  places,  the 
roadway  was  covered  to  the  depth  of  several  feet  with  earth  and 
rocks. 

if  one  storm  could  do  so  much,  how  easily  can  we  believe  that 
the  storms  of  centuries  could  bury  whole  cities  many  feet  deep. 

As  I  have  said,  the  spring  at  Baalbek  forms  a  river  right  where 
it  breaks  out  from  under  the  mountain.  It  was  interesting  to 
watch  the  people  as  they  came  and  went.  Men  and  women  with 
their  water-jars  would  wade  right  into  the  spring,  stoop  down, 
fill  their  vessels,  and  wade  out  again.  There  was  not  a  con- 
venience about  the  whole  place. 

Great  flocks  of  sheep  and  goats  were  driven  up,  from  time  to 
time,  to  be  watered.  They,  too,  would  wade  in,  or,  goat-like, 
kneel  on  the  bank  and  drink.  Camels  would  usually  go  in  and 
lie  down  in  the  cool  water.  Some  of  the  goats  had  the  longest 
ears  I  ever  saw.  They  would  hang  down  by  the  side  of  their 
heads  like  long  pieces  of  leather,  and  when  they  drank,  their  ears 
would  be  submerged  several  inches  in  the  water.     I  saw  some 


My  Trip  to  thk  Oriknt.  133 

that  were  fully  twelve  inches  long.  Then  there  were  sheep  with 
immense  tails  as  large  as  milk-pans.  These  tails  are  composed 
of  pure  fat.  I  saw  many  of  them  dressed  and  hanging  up  in  the 
market. 

As  we  passed  through  Baalhek  in  the  early  morning,  I  saw  a 
strange  sight.  A  man  drove  a  band  of  sheep  along  the  street. 
A  butcher  stepped  out  of  his  shop  and  bought  one.  He  brought 
out  a  shallow  vessel,  and,  throwing  the  sheep  down  in  the  middle 
of  the  street,  held  its  head  over  the  tub,  cut  its  throat,  and  waited 
for  the  poor  struggling  thing  to  die.  The  street  was  not  more 
than  ten  feet  wide,  and  as  it  lay  in  the  middle,  we  had  to  ride 
round  it.  Other  butchers  had  theirs  hung  up  in  the  front  of  their 
little  shops,  and  were  skinning  and  dressing  them,  where  all 
passers-by  could  see  the  operation. 

We  began  to  realize  that  we  were  in  a  land  w^here  customs 
never  change.  I  wish  I  could  describe  to  you  the  plows  we  saw 
here  and  all  over  Palestine,  —  simply  a  crooked  stick  with  a 
single  handle,  drawn  by  two  diminutive  oxen.  Not  a  single 
change  or  improvement  has  been  made  since  Elijah  "found 
Elisha,  the  son  of  Shaphat,  who  was  plowing  with  twelve  yoke  of 
oxen  before  him,  and  he  with  the  twelfth." 

A  French  company,  seeing  the  vast  amount  of  merchandise 
carried  from  Beirut  over  the  mountains  of  Lebanon  on  donkeys 
and  camels,  and  in  wagons,  conceived  the  idea  of  building  a  rail- 
road to  Damascus,  and  did  it;  but  the  people  will  not  patronize 
it  to  any  extent.  The  freight  trains  go  by  almost  empty,  while 
we  passed  long  strings  of  camels,  and  a  number  of  wagons  with 
four  mules  driven  tandem,  toiling  slowly  over  the  mountains. 
What  do  they  want  with  a  railroad,  when  camels  can  carry  such 
loads? 

As  we  passed  up  the  great  valley  that  lit  s  between  Lebanon 
and  Anti-Lebanon,  we  visited  what  is  said  to  be  the  tomb  of 
Noah.  It  is  in  a  building,  and  is,  by  my  measurement,  110  feet 
long.  The  Moslems  claim  that  Noah  is  buried  here.  What  part 
of  this  long  mound  his  body  occupies,  or  whether  they  believe  he 
fills  it  all,  we  were  not  told.  Nor  was  it  a  matter  of  any  special 
importance. 

We  reached  our  camp  at  Baalbek  just  at  night.  Saturday,  Oc- 
tober 12th.     From  this  point  we  were  to  live  in  camp,  and  the 


134  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

roads  we  travel,  if  roads  they  can  be  called,  were  in  the  condition 
they  were  in  a  thousand  years  ago.  How  the  ladies,  some  of 
them  never  having  had  any  previous  experience  in  horseback- 
riding,  ever  made  their  way  over  them  without  accident,  is  a 
mystery.  In  contrast  to  Roman  work  and  Roman  enterprise,  we 
passed  a  section  of  an  old  Roman  road  cut  through  the  solid  rock 
on  the  side  of  an  immense  mountain.  Inscriptions  still  exist  on 
the  sides  of  the  cut.  Josephus  tells  about  this  road,  as  a  most 
remarkable  one.  On  the  opposite  side  of  a  deep  ravine  we  could 
see  the  remains  of  a  great  aqueduct,  also  built  by  the  Romans, 

ABANA   RIVER. 

We  soon  began  our  passage  down  the  Abana  River,  one  of  the 
famous  rivers  of  Damascus.  It  was  as  clear  as  crystal,  and  dashed 
and  foamed  amid  the  rocks  in  a  most  charming  manner.  We 
could  but  recall  the  expression  of  Naaman  the  Syrian,  who  was 
commanded  of  Elisha  to  dip  himself  seven  times  in  the  river 
Jordan,  "Are  not  Abana  and  Pharpar,  rivers  of  Damascus, better 
than  all  the  waters  of  Israel?" 


A  SYRIAN   WEDDING. 

We  camped  on  its  banks  at  a  town  called  Husiniyeh.  After 
supper  we  were  invited  to  a  Syrian  wedding.  Of  course  we  ex- 
pected to  see  both  bride  and  groom,  as  well  as  witness  a  ceremony 
of  marriage. 

We  entered  an  open  court.  On  one  side  the  men  were  seated; 
on  the  other,  squatted  on  the  ground,  were  a  lot  of  women  and 
children.  On  one  side  of  the  court  was  a  long  pole,  or  log.  Our 
party  took  possession  of  that,  seating  ourselves  in  a  row.  A  large 
sheep  stood  among  the  women  and  children,  as  much  at  ease  and 
at  home  as  any  one. 

The  women  were  making  some  sort  of  comments  on  our  party, 
and  seemed  to  be  much  amused.  We  asked  our  dragoman  what 
they  were  saying.  He  said  they  thought  I  was  the  father  of  the 
whole  crowd. 

Soon  after  we  were  seated,  one  of  the  men  began  a  low,  wailing 
song,  in  a  falsetto  voice,  which  was  soon  accompanied  with  regu- 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  135 

lar  clapping  of  hands  in  unison.  Then  a  piper  with  a  rude  reed 
flute  stepped  out,  and  six  men  joined  hands  round  him,  and  be- 
gan a  most  peculiar  dance.  The  crowd  became  more  and  more 
excited,  and  the  dancing  increased  in  violence.  This  continued 
for  some  time,  and  the  six  seated  themselves,  and  one  of  our 
muleteers,  taking  a  dagger  in  each  hand,  began  to  dance  and  to 
flourish  the  knives  in  the  most  weird  and  desperate  manner.  He 
would  fall  upon  one  knee,  and  flourish  the  knives  so  rapidly,  that 
the  eye  could  not  keep  up  with  their  movements.  All  the  while 
the  bridegroom  was  moving  about,  the  observed  of  all  observers. 
I  asked  where  the  bride  was,  and  when  she  would  appear.  I  was 
then  given  the  history  of  a  Syrian  marriage. 

When  a  young  man  sees  a  girl  that  he  wants,  he  goes  to  his 
father  and  gets  him  to  go  to  the  father  of  the  girl  and  ask  for  her. 
She  may  care  nothing  for  him, —  in  fact,  may  love  another.  But 
that  makes  no  sort  of  difference.  If  the  father  of  the  girl  is 
pleased  with  the  proposition,  he  goes  to  the  local  sheik,  who  fixes 
a  price  that  the  young  man  is  to  pay  her  father.  He  then  sends 
her  a  ring  and  a  veil,  and  the  whole  matter  is  settled.  They  are 
as  good  as  married.  Matters  may  stand  for  weeks,  or  even  a  year. 
When  the  girl  is  ready,  the  friends  of  the  groom  assemble  at  his 
house,  as  in  the  instance  we  saw,  and  sing  and  dance  and  enjoy 
themselves  for  three  nights,  the  bride  making  no  appearance  all 
this  time.  After  three  days  she  goes  to  his  home,  and  they  begin 
life  together. 

Once  after  this  —  at  Tiberias  —  we  were  invited  to  a  wedding, 
and  the  ladies  of  our  party  were  invited  in  to  see  the  bride.  They 
found  her  seated  among  a  lot  of  women,  undergoing  a  process  of 
tattooing  her  feet.  We  men  were  ungallant  enough  to  peek  in 
through  the  window,  and  we,  too,  saw  her.  She  was  a  mere  child. 
They  had  a  green  substance,  something  like  hot  sealing-wax, 
smeared  over  the  top  of  her  foot,  and  with  a  sharp  instrument 
they  were  pricking  the  figures  into  it.  The  most  painful  expres- 
sion was  on  her  face. 


136  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

Damascus  —  Plowing  and  Thrashing  —  C.esarea  Philippi  —  Sea  of  Gali- 
lee —  Bethsaida  —  Capernaitm  —  Tiberias  —  Mount  of  Beatitudes  — 
Cana  of  Galilee  —  Mount  Gilboa  —  Nazareth  —  Nain  —  Shunem  — 
Carmel  —  Jezreel  —  Naboth's  Vineyard  —  Dothan. 

DAMASCUS. 

Our  first  objective  point  was  Damascus.  This  is  perhaps  the 
oldest  city  in  the  world.  It  has  had  an  uninterrupted  existence 
as  a  city  for  over  four  thousand  years.  It  has  held  high  position 
in  the  drama  of  empires  and  nations.  The  greatest  and  most  re- 
nowned men  of  the  ages  have  been  within  its  walls.  Other  cities 
have  flourished,  both  in  the  East  and  in  the  West.  Their  glory 
has  waxed  and  waned,  and  in  many  instances  they  have  passed 
away,  but  this  gem  of  the  Orient  has  held  its  place  among  the 
great  and  permanent  cities  of  the  earth. 

It  stands  in  the  heart  of  one  of  the  most  fertile  spots  of  earth. 
Environed  by  mountains  on  all  sides,  with  the  Abana  and  Phar- 
par  furnishing  an  abundant  supply  of  water  at  all  seasons,  its 
beauty  is  unrivaled.  The  valley  is  perhaps  twenty-five  miles 
across,  every  way,  and  so  thickly  planted  is  it  with  trees,  that 
when  you  stand  on  a  mountain  above  it,  it  looks  like  one  vast 
orchard.  I  was  told  that  almost  every  kind  of  nut  in  the 
world  can  be  grown  here. 

The  city  occupies  a  position  in  the  center  of  this  great  valley, 
reminding  one  of  a  rare  gem  set  in  a  ring  of  beauty. 

But  the  connection  of  this  city  with  the  conversion  of  St.  Paul 
gives  to  it- its  chief  charm.  Tradition  has  fixed  the  spot  where 
the  "light  shone  round  about  him,"  some  five  or  six  miles  from 
the  city,  and  a  shrine  has  been  built  above  it.  But  I  pay  no  sort 
of  attention  to  these  traditions,  so  long  as  I  have  my  Bible.  Paul 
tells  us,  "  As  I  drew  nigh  the  city,"  not  five  or  six  miles  from  it. 
If  the  walls  of  the  city  stand  any  way  near  where  they  did  then, 
we  know  by  what  gate  he  entered.     We  found  the  street  that  is 


My  Trip  to  tiik  (Jiuknt.  l:>7 

still  "culled  Straight,"  and  were  shown  the  house  of  Judas,  to 
which  Ananias  was  sent  with  instructions  to  enlighten  him  with 
reference  to  Jesus,  who  appeared  to  him  in  the  way. 

Our  guide  took  us  to  what  is  called  the  "house  of  Ananias." 
We  were  taken  underground  to  a  chapel  or  church  fitted  up  with 
altar,  candles,  etc.,  and  the  very  place  where  Ananias  baptized 
Paul  was  pointed  out  to  us.  But  the  trouble  lay  in  the  fact  that 
Paul  did  not  go  to  the  house  of  Ananias  to  be  baptized,  but  the 
reverse.  But  when  the  Catholic  Church  fixes  a  place,  it  is  fixed. 
Scripture  and  propriety  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  matter. 

The  street  called  Straight  is  roofed  in,  and  is  a  very  busy 
street.  Little  shops  and  stores  abound  on  each  side,  and  there 
is  a  living  stream  of  men,  women,  and  children  flowing  through 
it,  interspersed  with  loaded  donkeys  and  camels  every  few  steps. 
The  camels  and  donkeys  have  the  right  of  way,  and  everybody 
has  to  dodge  and  dart  around  to  keep  from  being  run  over  or 
scraped  off  the  street.  While;  in  this  street,  I  saw  a  funeral  pro- 
cession. A  number  of  men,  one  bearing  an  immense  banner, 
came  in  from  a  side  street,  uttering  the  most  doleful  wail.  The 
corpse  was  laid  upon  a  bier  without  a  coffin,  and  borne  upon  the 
heads  of  two  men.  The  whole  passed  like  an  apparition,  and  was 
gone.  The  event  made  not  a  ripple  on  the  restless,  surging  sea 
of  humanity. 

On  one  of  the  streets  were  a  great  number  of  workshops. 
Some  were  blacksmithshops,  with  a  small  fire  of  charcoal  between 
some  rocks,  and  a  little  anvil.  The  smith  was  perched  on  a  littl  > 
stool,  from  which  he  worked  his  bellows  and  hammered  his  iron. 
But  the  most  amusing  thing  was  to  see  the  carpenters  turning. 
They  would  pass  the  string  of  a  long  bow  round  the  piece  to  be 
turned.  With  the  right  hand  they  gave  it  a  rotary  motion,  while 
they  held  the  chisel  in  the  left  hand  and  toes.  They  seemed  to 
be  as  skillful  with  one  foot  as  with  the  other.  All  the  time  the 
turner  sat  on  a  very  small  stool,  reacliing  right  and  left  for  either 
his  tools  or  his  wood. 

We  were  shown  the  wall  down  which  it  is  said  Paul  was  let 
when  he  escaped  from  Damascus.  But  great  changes  have  taken 
place,  both  as  to  the  city  and  the  walls  thereof.  For  ages  no  one 
was  particularly  interested  as  to  where  Paul  made  his  escape. 
The  fact  of  that  escape  was  recorded,  and  that  was  all  that  any- 


138  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

body  was  particularly  interested  in.  The  age  of  building  churches 
over  spots  now  made  sacred  and  worshiped  had  n't  come,  and 
many  generations  passed,  and  the  knowledge  of  the  particular 
locality  passed  with  them. 

The  house  of  Naaman  the  Syrian,  outside  the  walls,  was  pointed 
out.     It  is  now  in  ruins,  and  withal  looks  quite  modern. 

After  leaving  Damascus  we  pitched  our  tents  at  the  base  of 
Mount  Hermon.  This  historic  mountain,  so  celebrated  in  Scrip- 
ture history,  stands  out  most  prominently  in  the  great  range 
that  glorifies  the  south  of  Syria  and  the  north  of  Palestine.  Its 
sides  are  bare.  I  could  not  see  a  tree  or  shrub  from  base  to  sum- 
mit, and  while  in  the  rainy  season  it  may  be  clothed  with  grass, 
not  a  vestige  of  it  appears  now.  Brown  and  bare,  it  lifts  its 
massive  sides  up  against  the  l»lue  sky  in  silence  and  majesty. 
During  the  ages  the  storms  and  rains  that  have  beat  upon  its 
brow  and  sides  have  stripped  away  much  of  the  earth,  and  left 
great  ledges  of  gray  rock  belting  its  sides. 

In  our  journey  we  came  upon  a  lot  of  native  men  and  women 
at  a  wine-press,  working  with  their  crop  of  grapes.  They  had  a 
press,  and  had  digged  a  "wine-vat"  in  the  solid  rock.  Throwing 
the  grapes,  stems  and  all,  into  a  large  receptacle,  men  and  boys 
with  bare  feet  tramped  them  to  pieces.  They  were  then  heaped 
up,  and  a  long  heavy  pole  was  used  as  a  prize  to  express  the  juice 
from  the  grapes.  This  ran  down  into  the  "  wine-vat."  A  man 
went  down  a  ladder  set  in  this  wine-vat,  and  dipped  up  the  juice 
and  handed  it  to  another  man  at  the  top,  who  poured  it  into  a 
large  caldron,  where  it  was  boiled  to  a  syrup.  Quite  a  number 
of  others  were  engaged  in  boiling  the  juice  in  smaller  pots.  The 
whole  process  struck  me  as  anything  but  clean.  In  the  first  place, 
the  mass  as  it  came  out  of  the  wine-vat  looked  like  very  dirty 
dish-water.  Some  of  it  was  strained  through  coarse  sacks  or  bags 
that  looked  anything  but  inviting. 

PLOWING   AND   THRASHING. 

We,  in  our  journey  through  Palestine,  have  often  asked  each 
other  how  these  people  make  a  living.  It  is  true,  we  see  them 
here  and  there  with  their  little  wooden  plows  scratching  the  sur- 
face of  the  ground,  but  the  great  body  of  them   are  huddled  to- 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  139 

gether  in  the  villages,  or  are  met  on  the  highways,  going,  going. 
But  the  grape  and  the  olive  are  great  staples  of  food. 

How  they  reap  their  grain,  we  know  not,  for  the  season  was 
over,  but  we  frequently  saw  their  process  of  thrashing.  It  was 
of  the  most  primitive  character.  Oxen  are  driven  round  over  the 
grain,  spread  out  on  cleared  spots,  or  thrashing-floors,  sometimes 
drawing  a  sort  of  drag  after  them.  They  carry  on  this  })rocess 
until  the  very  straw  is  ground  up.  Then  they  throw  the  grain 
up  in  the  air,  and  the  chaff  and  straw  is  blown  by  the  wind  to 
one  side,  and  the  wheat  is  left  in  a  yellow  pile.  The  process  is 
carried  still  further  with  sieves,  that  are  filled  and  skillfully 
manipulated,  until  every  particle  of  dirt  and  chaff  is  removed. 
The  grain  is  then  piled  up  in  the  center  of  the  thrashing-floor, 
great  piles  of  weeds  are  placed  round  the  heaps,  and  men  lie  by 
and  guard  their  treasure  night  and  day.  As  the  night  grows 
cold,  they  make  a  fire  of  the  weeds,  and  hover  over  the  flame  and 
embers.  Not  a  particle  of  the  chaff  or  straw  is  wasted,  but  all  is 
gathered  up  to  be  fed  to  horses,  donkeys,  and  camels.  When 
these  animals  have  eaten  all  that  suits  their  taste,  the  balance  is 
carefully  gathered  up  and  mixed  with  mortar  with  which  to  cover 
their  roofs. 

Everything  that  cannot  be  used  in  any  other  way,  and  that 
can  be  burned,  is  turned  into  fuel.  And  necessity  has  taught 
them  economy  in  the  use  of  fuel,  that  is  almost  marvelous. 
Mountain  and  plain  have  been  robbed  of  trees  and  shrubs,  and 
the  people  have  been  driven  to  the  use  of  things  for  fuel,  that 
would  be  repulsive  to  us. 

I  saw  one  of  our  muleteers  gathering  some  three  or  four  little 
pieces  of  corn-stalks,  not  as  big  as  my  little  finger.  He  arranged 
some  rocks,  and  placing  his  little  tin  cup  of  coffee  over  it,  by 
judicious  management  he  boiled  it.  I  could  understand  the  ex- 
pression of  the  widow  who  told  Elijah  that  she  was  gathering 
two  sticks,  that  she  might  bake  bread  for  her  son  and  herself, 
and  die. 

C^SAREA   PHILIPPI. 

As  we  entered  the  town  of  Caesarea  Philippi  I  saw  what  threw 
light  upon  another  expression  in  the  Scriptures.  The  costumes 
of  the  people  have  undergone  no  change  for  centuries.     The  pants 


140  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

of  the  men  are  made  very  full,  hanging  down  between  the  feet, 
sometimes  within  three  or  four  inches  of  the  ground.  We  are- 
told  of  a  man  who  went  out  and  gathered  his  lap  full  of  wild 
gourds.  With  such  pants,  a  man  has  a  lap,  and  as  I  entered 
Caesarea  Philippi  I  met  a  man  with  his  lap  full  of  a  sort  of  squash. 

We  spent  the  Sabbath  at  Csesarea  Philippi,  and  at  eleven 
o'clock  our  little  company  gathered  under  some  great  old  olive 
trees,  and  as  I  stood  in  the  shadow  of  Mount  Hermon,  where 
doubtless  the  transfiguration  took  place,  I  took  that  for  my  theme,, 
and  as  I  discussed  it,  I  felt  that  I  was  not  far  from  the  spot  on 
which  the  Saviour  stood  when  he  made  this  wonderful  display  to 
the  chosen  three.  We  know  that  he  was  in  the  coasts  of  Caesarea 
Philippi,  and  that  he  went  up  into  a  high  mountain;  and  this 
one  high  mountain  answers  to  the  description.  As  I  looked  up 
its  sides  I  could  see  over  a  roll  where  he  could  have  been  shut 
out  from  a  vision  of  "the  plain  below,  and  yet  be  high  up  the 
mountain.  We  all  enjoyed  the  discussion  of  this  unique  passage 
in  the  life  of  our  blessed  Lord. 

Most  of  our  party  took  a  stroll  to  the  great  fountain  or  spring 
that  forms  one  of  the  sources  of  the  Jordan.  Brother  Pepper  and 
family  and  I  felt  better  to  remain  in  camp.  But  that  we  might 
not  be  disappointed,  Solie,  our  dragoman,  took  us  by  starlight  to 
the  place,  next  morning,  and  we  were  by  the  early  daylight 
enabled  to  see  all  that  was  to  be  seen.  We  were  back  in  camp, 
ate  breakfast  with  the  rest,  and  were  ready  for  our  day's  ride. 

During  this  morning's  ride  we  were  shown  what  purported  to- 
be  the  tomb  of  Terah,  the  father  of  Abraham.  But  Terah  died 
in  Haran,  and  I  have  no  idea  that  Abraham  brought  his  body- 
over  forty  miles  for  burial. 

We  were  now  in  a  part  of  the  inheritance  of  Dan,  —  the  part 
that  they  took  from  a  people  who  "had  no  business  with  any 
man."  Naphtali  had  his  inheritance  here,  in  the  far  north.  We 
found  some  very  large  and  fertile  valleys  here  in  his  inheritance. 
At  night  we  camped  at  another  great  spring  breaking  out  at  the 
foot  of  the  mountain.  It  was  of  sufficient  volume  to  turn  a  rude 
mill  with  two  sets  of  stones.  We  went  into  this  mill.  In  the 
one  small  room  were  three  donkeys,  a  horse,  and  a  goat,  all  mixed 
up  in  the  most  familiar  manner.  Cleanliness  is  not  one  of  the 
characteristics  of  this  people.     Our  camp  was  in  sight  of  Lake 


My  Trip  to  thk  Okiknt.  141 

Merom.  The  country  immediately  surrounding  the  lake  is  too 
marshy  to  allow  of  a  near  approach,  so  we  had  to  content  ourselves 
with  looking  at  it  from  a  distance. 

The  moon  was  about  its  full,  and  our  muleteers  amused  us  by 
playing  bear.  One  of  them  dressed  in  a  goatskin  robe,  and  danced, 
and  cut  up  all  sorts  of  capers,  led  by  another,  who  was  about  as 
funny  as  the  bear.     They  were  like  children  at  play. 

The  next  day  we  met  five  missionaries.  We  were  glad  to  meet 
with  English-speaking  people,  and  we  sat  for  some  time  on  our 
horses  and  exchanged  courtesies. 

Just  before  reaching  an  old  Roman  bridge,  that  was  built  before 
the  time  of  Christ,  we  saw  an  immense  herd  of  buffaloes.  There 
were  perhaps  five  hundred  in  the  herd.  The  people  here  use  them 
as  cows,  both  as  work-animals  and  for  milking  purposes. 

At  lunch,  to-day,  we  saw,  for  the  first  time,  the  papyrus  grow- 
ing. It  was  near  a  Bedouin  camp,  and  some  of  the  children 
brought  us  some  of  the  stalks  from  the  low,  swampy  ground  on 
which  they  grew. 

To-day  we  passed  one  of  the  new  Jewish  colonies,  recently  es- 
tablished by  Baron  Rothschild.  He  has  bought  up  large  tracts 
of  land  in  Palestine,  and  is  establishing  Jewish  colonies.  The 
houses  occupied  by  these  people  are  in  marked  contrast  to  the 
squalid  mud  and  stone  houses  occupied  by  the  natives.  Trees 
have  been  planted,  roads  have  been  built,  and  everything  looks 
clean  and  nice.  We  talked  with  some  of  the  Jews.  The}-  told  us 
under  Turkish  rule  they  have  a  hard  time.  The  tax-gatherers 
exact  ten  per  cent,  and  then  take  as  much  more  as  they  please 
when  they  come  to  collect.  They  have  no  assurance  of  safety  for 
anything  they  possess. 

We  are  now  in  the  land  of  Israel,  the  inheritance  of  God's 
people,  but  it  is  theirs  no  more.  They  rejected  their  own  Messiah, 
and  for  nearly  two  thousand  years  they  have  never  had  a  home 
nor  a  nationality.  Strangers  in  strange  lands,  the}'  live  only  by 
the  kindness  of  other  peoples.  They,  as  a  people,  have  been  pre- 
served as  distinct  and  sei)arate  from  other  i)eople  as  if  they  had 
been  set  alone  in  the  earth,  and  yet  they  have  no  home.  Stran- 
gers with  a  strange  tongue,  and  with  a  strange  religion,  roam 
over  the  home  of  their  fathers,  and  should  they  venture  to  enter 
their  land  even  by  purchase,  they  have  no  assurance  of  either  life 


142  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

or  property.  Both  civilly  and  religiously,  they  have  been  "broken 
off"  from  the  parent  stem,  and  aliens  have  been  grafted  in,  and, 
contrary  to  nature,  are  partakers  of  the  root  and  fatness  of  their 
possessions.  There  is  no  doubt  about  the  power  of  God  to  graft 
them  in  again.  But  will  he  do  it?  1  answer  according  to  the 
Scripture:  not  if  they  continue  in  unbelief.  Rothschild  may 
pour  out  his  millions,  —  may,  if  possible,  buy  up  the  whole  land, 
and  make  proclamation  to  his  people  all  over  the  earth  to  come 
and  occupy,  but  unless  He  who  said  "Without  me  ye  can  do 
nothing"  shall  smile  upon  the  enterprise,  the  whole  will  fail. 
The  laws  of  God's  righteousness  are  as  unalterable  as  his  own 
being. 

SEA   OF   GALILEE. 

>  At  a  little  after  nine  o'clock,  October  22,  1901,  I  first  caught 
sight  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  From  the  top  of  a  hill  I  looked  down 
upon  it.  There  was  not  a  ripple  upon  its  placid  face.  I  thought 
how  often  my  Lord  and  Master  had  seen  it  from  the  same  point, 
as,  his  heart  burdened  for  the  good  of  the  people,  he  toiled  thither 
and  looked  down  upon  its  placid  face.  He  could  see  the  thickly 
populated  towns  that  then  stood  near  it,  that  now  are  in  ruins, 
—  the  very  sites  of  many  of  them  now  lost. 

We  could  see  where  the  Jordan  came  in  on  the  north,  and  the 
beautiful  grassy  spot  was  pointed  out  where,  tradition  tells  us,  he 
fed  the  five  thousand.  We  know  that  tradition  cannot  be  far 
wrong  in  this  case;  for  there  are  Scripture  points  enough  to  hold 
us  near  the  place. 

BETHSAIDA. 

We  reached  the  sea  at  what  is  called  Bethsaida.  But  little  of 
the  town  is  left,  and  maybe  this  is  not  the  Bethsaida  of  Christ's 
time.  There  are,  however,  enough  of  ruins  lying  about  to  mark 
it  as  a  place  of  some  importance  in  the  far  past.  And  whether 
it  be  the  place  of  that  name  in  Christ's  time,  yet  doubtless  it  was 
one  of  the  places  where  he  preached  and  taught. 

We  took  our  lunch  on  the  shore  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  We 
wandered  up  and  down  its  rocky  shore,  and  called  up  many  a 
scene  in  the  life  of  Christ  as  they  are  recorded  in  the  New  Testa- 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  143 

ment.  But  the  towns  round  about,  where  our  Lord  so  often  went, 
and  preached,  and  wrought  his  miracles  of  healing  and  mercy, 
where  are  they?  They  were  then  full  of  people;  the  land  smiled 
with  prosperity  and  plenty;  but  that  wonderful  peasant  of  Naza- 
reth lifted  his  hand,  and  in  accents  of  pity  said,  "  Wo  unto  thee, 
Chorazin!  wo  unto  thee,  Bethsaida!  for  if  the  mighty  works 
which  were  done  in  you  had  been  done  in  Tyre  and  Sidon,  they 
would  have  repented  long  ago  in  sackcloth  and  ashes.  But  I  say 
unto  you.  It  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  Tyre  and  Sidon  at  the  day 
of  judgment,  than  for  you.  And  thou,  Capernaum,  which  art 
exalted  unto  heaven,  shall  be  brought  down  to  hell:  for  if  the 
mighty  works,  which  have  been  done  in  thee,  had  been  done  in 
Sodom,  it  would  have  remained  until  this  day.  But  I  say 
unto  you.  That  it  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  the  land  of  Sodom 
in  the  day  of  judgment,  than  for  thee." 

CAPERNAUM. 

We  asked  our  dragoman  where  these  cities  were.  He  pointed 
to  a  hill  not  far  off,  and  to  a  little  heap  of  ruins,  and  said,  "That 
is  Capernaum."  But  there  is  some  doubt  about  it.  And  thus  of 
other  towns  mentioned  in  this  doomed  catalogue. 

The  name  of  Jesus  is  honored  and  loved  round  the  world.  The 
wealth  of  nations  has  been  poured  into  the  lap  of  his  church;  his 
words  are  treasured  above  all  things  beneath  the  sun,  while  the 
very  sites  of  these  doomed  cities  have  been  lost  to  the  world. 
The  very  mountains  round  about  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  which  were 
once  clothed  in  verdure,  are  now  grinning  with  bare,  gray  rocks 
from  summit  to  base,  the  most  desolate  object  1  saw  in  all  Pales- 
tine. 

Locked  in  the  arms  of  these  hard,  desolate  mountains  lay  the 
Sea  of  Galilee,  as  beautiful  as  when  Jesus  walked  its  shores  or 
rode  on  its  surface,  its  clear  and  limpid  waters  mirroring  rock 
and  mountain  with  faultless  perfection  on  its  placid  surface.  It 
was  the  one  thing  in  Palestine  that  filled  my  ideal,  and  that  liad 
remained  through  the  ages  the  same  unalterated,  unalterable  gem 
of  the  Jordan.  Its  waters  were  as  clear  and  sweet  as  if  they  had 
just  broken  from  their  fountains  in  the  mountains  of  Lebanon. 
When  we  reached  its  shores  in  the  morning,  its  surface  was  as 


144  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

calm  and  smooth  as  a  sea  of  glass;  but  while  we  were  at  lunch  a 
sudden  wind  came  down  upon  it,  that  lashed  it  into  waves  and 
covered  it  with  whitecaps. 

TIBERIAS. 

Our  plan  was  to  go  by  boat  to  Tiberias,  and  notwithstanding 
the  strong  wind,  we  embarked  in  two  boats,  rowed  by  a  lot  of 
stalwart  Arabs.  After  rowing  some  miles  and  turning  a  certain 
point,  they  hoisted  up  sail,  and  we  fairly  flew  over  the  waters. 
Time  and  again,  when  an  extra  large  wave  would  strike  us,  the 
spray  would  fly  entirely  over  the  boat;  but  it  was  a  most  exhila- 
rating ride,  and  one  that  will  linger  as  a  sweet  memory  with  us 

all. 

When  I  saw  the  Sea  of  Galilee  and  the  Dead  Sea,  I  involun- 
tarily exclaimed,  "Thank  God!  here  is  one  thing  over  which 
they  can  build  neither  church  nor  mosque;  where  they  can't 
change  the  location,  and  where,  when  we  see  it,  we  know  it." 
From  what  I  have  seen  all  over  this  country,  if  men  had  the 
power  they  would  lift  this  beautiful  sea  from  its  setting,  trans- 
port it  to  some  foreign  land,  and  build  a  church  over  its  waters, 
and  light  the  whole  with  wax  candles. 

We  landed  at  the  town  of  Tiberias,  where  we  camped  for  the 
night.  Brother  Pepper,  his  son  Sam,  and  I  took  a  swim  in  the 
sea.  It  was  indeed  a  luxurious  bath,  and  we  felt  very  much  re- 
freshed. 

This  town  of  Tiberias  was  here  in  the  time  of  our  Lord,  but  I 
do  not  remember  that  any  visit  of  his  to  it  is  ever  mentioned. 
John  tells  us,  in  a  parenthesis,  "Howbeit  there  came  other  boats 
from  Tiberias,  nigh  unto  the  place  where  they  did  eat  bread,  after 
that  the  Lord  had  given  thanks." 

It  is  on  the  western  shore  of  the  sea,  which  is  twice  called  the  Sea 
of  Tiberias  by  John.  We  look  in  vain  for  other  cities  made  memo- 
rable by  the  visits  and  miracles  of  Jesus,  and  yet  this  Roman  city 
stands  now  where  it  did  in  the  days  of  the  incarnation,  the  haven 
of  ships  now,  as  then.  A  mile  or  two  below  the  town  are  the 
celebrated  hot  springs,  that  have  been  regarded  as  a  sanitarium 
since  long  before  the  days  of  Herod  the  Great.  When  taken  with 
his  last  sickness,  he  was  borne  hither,  but  too  late.  The  water, 
as  it  comes  out  of  the  mountain  side  in  a  great  stream,  is  hot 


My  Tkii'  to  thk  (Jriknt.  145 

enough  to  scald  one,  and  is  exceedingly  salt  and  bitter.     I  found 
it  wholly  unpalatable. 

MOUNT   OF   BEATITUDES. 

Not  far  from  Tiberias  we  were  shown  the  ruins  of  the  village 
of  Magdala,  the  honae  of  ^lary  Magdalene.  Near  the  Sea  of 
Galilee  is  pointed  out  the  Mount  of  Beatitudes,  where,  it  is  said, 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  was  preached.  I  do  not  know  whether 
this  be  the  place  or  not,  but  I  thought,  as  I  sat  and  looked  upon 
the  place,  that  I  could  reconcile  a  seeming  difference  between  the 
account  given  by  Matthew  and  the  one  by  Luke.  Matthew  says: 
"And  seeing  the  multitudes,  he  went  up  into  a  mountain:  and 
when  he  was  set,  his  disciples  came  unto  him:  and  he  opened  his 
mouth,  and  taught  them,  saying";  while  Luke  says:  "And  he 
came  down  with  them,  and  stood  in  the  plain."  There  is  a 
beautiful  plain  at  the  foot  of  a  mountain,  that  slopes  up  the  side. 
It  would  be  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world  for  Jesus  to  as- 
cend a  few'  steps  up  the  mountain  side,  while  the  crowd  stood  in 
the  plain  below  him.  Matthew,  referring  specially  to  the  posi- 
tion of  Christ,  would  place  him  on  the  mountain;  Luke,  thinking 
more  of  the  multitudes,  would  locate  them  with  their  teacher  on 
the  plain. 

On  this  same  plain  another  scene  was  enacted  that  set  at  de- 
fiance the  teachings  of  this  Prince  of  peace.  He  taught  men  to 
love  their  enemies,  to  do  violence  to  no  man;  he  forewarned  men 
that  they  that  take  up  the  sword  must  perish  with  the  sword. 
Angels  sang  at  his  birth,  "Peace on  earth,  and  good  will  to  men." 

But  here  on  this  very  plain,  where  he  delivered  the  most  won- 
derful sermon  the  w^orld  ever  heard,  the  Crusaders  marshaled  in 
his  name,  and  proclaiming  they  were  fighting  for  his  cause,  met 
the  Moslem  hosts  under  Saladin,  and  after  a  most  fearful  con- 
flict, w^hen  the  blood  of  Christian  and  infidel  mingled  in  one  in- 
discriminate stream,  the  cross  went  down  under  the  crescent,  and 
to  this  good  hour  the  Mohammedan  holds  sway  over  all  this  fair 
land.  The  very  lives  of  Christians  are  in  the  hands  of  these  igno- 
rant, bigoted  hordes,  that  lord  it  over  all  the  land. 


146  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 


CANA   OF   GALILEE. 

At  noon  we  reached  the  village  of  Cana  of  Galilee,  where  "  Jesus 
made  the  water  wine."  It  is  a  little,  insignificant  village,  with 
no  special  mark  about  it.  Of  course  we  were  taken  into  a  church, 
and  down  under  the  ground,  and  shown  the  very  spot  where  the 
miracle  was  performed,  and  they  pretend  to  have  preserved  two 
of  the  water-pots.  But  as  I  have  found  everywhere,  the  clumsi- 
ness stamps  the  whole  thing  as  a  fraud.  Instead  of  "water-pots 
of  stone,  after  the  manner  of  the  purifying  of  the  Jews,"  they 
have  two  immense  stone  mortars  —  shall  I  call  them?  —  six  inches 
in  thickness,  set  in  the  side  of  the  altar.  A  child  could  see  the 
fraud. 

I  saw  a  constant  stream  of  women  with  water-jars  on  their 
heads  going  to  and  from  the  village  to  the  fountain.  I  followed 
the  procession  till  I  came  to  the  fountain.  A  dozen  or  more 
women  and  girls  stood  round  about  it.  There  was  a  square  well, 
about  three  feet  in  diameter,  and  some  ten  or  twelve  feet  deep. 
In  the  l)ottom  was  a  stone  standing  a  few  inches  above  the 
water.  The  water  poured  in  a  constant  stream  through  the  bot- 
tom of  this  fountain.  There  were  holes  or  niches  in  the  two  oppo- 
site sides  of  the  well. 

A  woman  would  descend  with  her  jar  and  take  her  stand  on  the 
rock,  sinking  her  jar  as  deep  as  it  would  go  in  the  water.  She 
would  then  take  her  hand  and  throw  the  water  in  until  the  jar  was 
full;  then  Jifting  it  onto  one  knee,  she  would  take  a  step  up, 
change  it  over  to  the  other;  she  would  then  take  another,  and  thus 
toil  to  the  surface.  But  if  a  number  were  ready  to  till  their  jars 
at  the  same  time,  one  would  descend,  and  then  a  second  would 
go  half-way  down  and  stand  above  her.  A  jar  would  be  handed 
to  the  one  at  the  bottom,  who  would  fill  it,  and  pass  it  to  the  one 
above  her,  who  would  hand  it  to  one  on  the  outside.  When  all 
were  filled,  the  two  would  come  up,  and  each  one  selecting  her 
own  vessel,  lift  it  to  her  head,  and  return  to  her  home.  These 
jars  would  hold  from  four  to  five  gallons. 

It  was  astonishing  with  what  ease  even  little  girls  would  lift 
these  jars  to  their  heads  and  walk  off,  looking  around  and  chat- 
ting as  if  it  were  merely  play. 

I  was  told  that  this  was  the  only  fountain  in  the  village.     It 


My  Trip  to  thk  Oriknt.  147 

must  have  been  nearly  half  a  mile  from  the  extreme  edge,  and 
yet  women  had  been  coming  and  going  thus  burdened  (every 
drop  of  water  used  in  their  homes  carried  on  their  heads)  for 
thousands  of  years.  No  one  had  ever  altered  the  arrangement  or 
suggested  a  change. 

More  than  a  hundred  yards  below  this  fountain  the  water 
comes  out  into  a  stone  reservoir  from  which  flocks  and  herds  are 
watered.  There  are  stone  troughs  on  each  side  of  this  reservoir. 
Men  would  dip  the  water  up  and  pour  it  into  these  troughs,  and 
the  sheep,  goats,  and  cattle  would  come  and  drink.  I  saw  some 
of  the  same  sort  of  contention  over  these  troughs  that  took  place 
thousands  of  years  ago,  as  described  in  the  book  of  Genesis. 

As  I  stood  above  the  fountain  of  bright,  clear  water,  and  saw 
those  women  drawing  and  bearing  it  away  to  the  village,  I  won- 
dered if  the  water  turned  into  wine  were  not  drawn  and  borne 
from  this  very  spring.  If  this  be  the  true  Cana  of  Galilee,  the 
answer  is  easy. 

By  an  easy  ride  that  afternoon,  we  reached  Nazareth.  Before 
reaching  it,  however,  we  enjoyed  some  views  that  were  of  thrilling 
interest.  Away  off  to  our  right  stood  Mount  Carmel,  jutting  out 
into  the  blue  Mediterranean.  As  we  sat  upon  our  horses  and 
looked  over  the  country,  we  thought  of  Elijah  and  his  wonderful 
contention  with  Ahab  and  the  prophets  of  Baal.  His  great  prayer 
of  faith  for  the  rain,  that  had  been  held  back  for  three  years  and 
six  months,  was  lifted  to  the  God  who  had  just  answered  by  fire. 
We  could  see  where  the  servant  went  to  look  over  the  Mediter- 
ranean for  a  sign  of  rain,  and  when  that  little  cloud  like  a  man's 
hand  rose  up  as  out  of  the  sea,  he  arose  from  his  knees  and  started 
for  Jezreel.  Off  to  our  left,  on  a  mountain  top,  stood  the  remains 
of  this  old  city,  and  we  could  see  every  mile  of  the  sixteen  that 
he  had  to  run  over  to  reach  Ahab  in  this  city.  It  was  a  wonder- 
ful race,  but  not  equal  to  the  one  that  immediately  followed  as 
he  fled  for  his  life  to  Horeb. 

GILBOA. 

Our  point  of  observation  was  marvelous.  Near  us  was  the 
plain  of  Esdraelon,  or  Megiddo,  or  Armageddon.  More  important 
battles  have  been  fought  on  this  plain  than  at  any  other  point 
in  all  the  land  of  Israel.     Here  Israel  and   the  Syrians  fought 


148  My  Trip  to  the  Orieat. 

most  of  their  great  battles;  here  the  great  Napoleon  hurled  his 
hosts  against  his  foes.  Just  to  our  left  rise  the  mountains  of  Gil- 
boa,  where  Saul  and  his  three  sons  were  slain  in  one  day.  I  could 
not  but  call  up  the  lament  of  David  over  the  fall  of  these  truly 
great  men:  "The  beauty  of  Israel  is  slain  upon  thy  high  places: 
how  are  the  mighty  fallen!  Tell  it  not  in  Gath,  publish  it  not  in 
the  streets  of  Askelon;  lest  the  daughters  of  the  Philistines  rejoice, 
lest  the  daughters  of  the  uncircumcised  triumph.  Ye  mountains 
of  Gilboa,  let  there  be  no  dew,  neither  let  their  be  rain,  upon  you, 
nor  fields  of  offerings." 

Some  five  or  six  miles  away  from  where  the  camp  of  Israel 
was  that  night  is  the  little  village  of  Endor,  nesthng  up  to  the 
hill  where  Saul  made  that  visit  to  the  witch.  We  could  see  in  the 
distance  the  site  of  Beth-shan,  where  the  Philistines  took  the 
body  of  Saul  and  nailed  it  to  the  wall. 

I  shall  ever  after  this  have  the  picture  of  these  plains, 
mountains,  and  towns  in  my  mind  as  I  read  the  history  connected 
with  them. 

We  passed  through  the  little  village  of  Shunem,  where  that 
great  woman  entertained  Elisha,  and  built  him  a  chamber  on  the 
wall.  We  saw  the  field,  doubtless,  where  her  little  boy  took  sick, 
and  we  could  look  up  all  the  way  to  Carmel,  where  she  rode  in 
such  haste  to  lay  her  troubles  upon  the  heart  of  the  man  of  God. 

NAZARETH. 

After  this  day,  crowded  with  so  many  scenes  of  interest,  we 
camped  at  Nazareth.  Before  riding  into  town  we  ascended  the 
hill  just  above  the  place,  where  we  enjoyed  a  most  charming  view 
of  the  village  and  the  surrounding  country.  This  hill  is  called 
the  "Mount  of  Precipitation,"  and  tradition  has  it  that  here  the 
Jews  took  our  Lord  to  "  cast  him  down  headlong."  But  the  record 
tells  us  "  the  brow  of  the  hill  on  which  their  city  was  built."  In 
the  first  place,  the  city  is  not  built  on  this  hill,  and  in  the  next 
place,  I  could  see  no  place  where  a  man  could  be  thrown 
headlong.  A  Uttle  below  the  town  is  another  hill,  that  is  said  to 
be  the  place.  I  ignored  both  these,  and  took  a  stroll  through  the 
town.  I  found  several  places  where  a  man  might  be  hurled 
headlong  over  a  precipice  from  twelve  to  twenty  feet  to  his  death. 

The  customs  of  this  people  have  never  changed.     They  dig  for 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  149 

earth  or  stone  for  building  purposes  right  among  their  houses, 
and  some  of  these  places  may  have  answered  Luke's  description. 
Of  course,  the  house  of  Mary  and  the  carpenter-shop  of  Joseph 
are  shown,  covered  with  the  inevitable  church.  Down  under  the 
church  is  a  broken  column,  and  we  were  gravely  told  that  Mary 
was  sitting  on  this  column  when  the  angel  Gabriel  appeared  to 
her.  The  very  crack  through  which  Gabriel  squeezed  his  way 
into  her  presence  is  shown.  I  became  so  thoroughly  disgusted 
with  all  this  fummery  and  nonsense,  that  I  could  hardly  suppress 
my  disgust.  It  was  enough  for  me  to  know  that  here  in  this 
mountain  town,  that  perhaps  hardly  has  a  feature  of  its  original 
appearance  remaining,  our  Lord  had  lived  the  greater  portion  of 
his  life  while  on  earth.  Him  I  love,  him  I  worship,  but  not  a 
single  spot  he  ever  visited,  merely  because  of  that  visit.  I  know  I 
am  not  wanting  in  reverence  or  veneration,  but  it  is  mine  to  wor- 
ship the  Creator,  more  than  the  creature.  But  from  my  heart  I 
do  wish  that  the  scenes  of  Christ's  earthly  connection  had  been 
left  as  he  and  nature  left  them. 

There  is  a  fountain  in  the  heart  of  the  village,  called  "  The 
Virgin's  Fountain,"  that  supplies  the  whole  place  with  w^ater. 
A  stream,  perhaps  half  or  three  quarters  of  an  inch  in  diameter, 
flows  out  of  the  rocky  side  of  the  fountain.  I  made  two  visits  to 
this  fountain,  and  at  no  time  were  there  fewer  than  twenty  or 
thirty  w^omen  and  children  with  their  jars  and  pitchers,  holding 
them  under  the  stream  to  be  filled.  Such  jabbering  and  push- 
ing one  hardly  sees  in  a  lifetime.  I  was  told  that  day  and  night 
this  scene  is  enacting  here.  I  saw  what  appeared  to  be  a  sixteen- 
year-old  girl  fill  two  large  jars.  She  set  one  on  the  curbing,  lifted 
the  other  to  her  head,  and  then  taking  the  one  on  the  curb  in 
her  arms,  moved  off  with  an  ease  that  was  astonishing.  Some- 
times mothers  would  come  with  their  babes,  and  placing  the  jar  on 
their  head,  would  set  the  babe  astride  of  their  shoulders,  move  off, 
balancing  the  jar  and  leaving  the  baby  to  hold  on  as  best  he  could. 

After  supper  our  party  gathered  in  the  dining-tent,  and  I 
preached  to  them  from  that  first  sermon  of  Jesus  at  Nazareth. 

NAIN. 
We  passed  the  village  of  Nain,  — a  very  inferior  village,  with 
a  fountain  of  brackish  water  near  it.     Mount  Tabor  came  into 
view.     It  is  one  of  the  most  symetrically  formed  mountains  of 


150  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

all  that  we  saw.  You  know  that  for  many  years  it  was  called 
the  Mount  of  Transfiguration.  I  am  satisfied  that  its  main  claim 
to  this  pre-eminence  is  its  height,  and  beauty  of  form  and  pro- 
portions. Its  Scriptural  claims  cannot  measure  up  to  those  of 
Hermon,  in  my  estimation. 

SHUNEM. 

After  our  lunch  at  Shunem,  Brother  Magness  and  I  took  a 
stroll  through  the  village.  We  both  have  found  this  to  be  the 
best  way  to  get  at  the  habits  and  customs  of  the  people.  We  see 
them  in  their  home.  When  they  come  out  to  see  us,  it  is  differ- 
ent from  our  going  to  see  them.  We  climbed  up  upon  the  house- 
tops and  watched  the  women  replastering  their  roofs.  Baskets 
of  earth  were  carried  up  and  poured  in  a  pile,  finely  powdered 
straw  was  then  mixed  with  it,  and  lastly,  jars  of  water  were 
poured  over  the  mass,  and  the  women  getting  down  on  their 
knees,  with  their  bare  hands  they  would  knead  the  mass  like 
dough.  They  would  then  daub  and  spread  it  wherever  needed. 
While  standing  watching  the  operation,  I  saw  bees  going  in  and 
out  at  one  corner  of  the  house,  and  found  that  a  hive  had  been 
made  of  the  same  material  as  that  covering  the  roof.  How  they 
got  at  the  honey,  I  know  not,  nor  did  I  desire  to  have  an  ocular 
demonstration.  We  saw  the  women  baking  bread  in  their  dirt 
ovens.  They  would  stuff  the  oven  full  of  dry  weeds  and  grass, 
and  when  it  was  hot,  they  put  in  the  dough,  and  left  it  to  bake. 
I  was  forcibly  reminded  of  the  Saviour's  expression  of  the  grass, 
"which  to-day  is,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven."  We  can 
never  appreciate  the  scarcity  of  fuel  in  this  country,  and  what 
repulsive  things  are  treasured  up  and  burned  here.  How  the 
people  keep  warm  in  the  winter-time,  when  it  is  cold  and  rainy, 
is  a  mystery  to  me. 

JEZREEL. 

We  passed  the  town  of  Jezreel,  where  was  a  well  on  the  out- 
skirts of  the  place,  and  a  bevy  of  women  and  girls  drawing  water. 
A  double  or  cross  arch  of  stone  had  been  built  over  the  mouth  of 
the  well.  Upon  this  arch  sat  one  or  two,  while  the  rest  stood 
round  about.  Each  one  had  a  jar  and  a  cord,  and  something  to 
draw  with,  in  the  shape  of  a  small  leather  bag,  pressed  open  with 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  151 

a  bunch  of  grass.  They  reminded  me  of  a  lot  of  fishers.  The 
well  was  forty-five  or  fifty  feet  deep,  and  perhaps  half  a  dozen 
would  be  fishing  for  water  at  the  same  time.  As  they  drew  their 
bags  up,  the  water  would  be  streaming  back  into  the  well,  and 
hardly  half  of  it  would  find  its  way  into  the  jars.  But  they 
would  drop  the  bag  in  again,  jabbering  all  the  time  in  the 
most  vociferous  manner.  When  all  were  ready,  each  one  would 
adroitly  lift  her  jar  to  her  head,  and  march  up  the  steep 
hill  to  the  village  above.  Generation  after  generation  have 
women  with  toil  and  labor  carried  all  the  water  used  in  the 
household  in  this  way. 

NABOTH'S    VINEYARD. 

Just  below  this  well  is  the  place  of  Naboth's  vineyard,  for 
which  the  poor  fellow  was  put  to  death  at  the  instigation  of  Jeze- 
bel, that  Ahab  might  take  possession  of  it.  Whether  this  were 
the  spot  or  not,  it  was  near  here,  and  this  is  a  beautiful  place  for 
a  vineyard.  Here,  hard-by,  we  were  shown  the  tower  from  which 
this  same  wicked  Jezebel  was  thrown. 

Off  to  our  left  was  a  brook,  making  its  way  to  the  Jordan, 
where  Gideon's  men  drank  as  they  were  rushing  after  the  Midian- 
ites.  When  we  saw  all  these  things  with  our  own  eyes,  we  felt 
that  we  were  indeed  in  Bible  lands,  and  where  history  was  made. 

DOTH AN. 

Soon  we  came  to  Dothan,  where  Joseph  was  so  cruelly  treated 
and  sold  by  his  brethren.  As  we  were  frequently  meeting  the 
Bedouins  as  they  trudged  along  with  their  camels  and  donkeys, 
it  took  but  a  little  stretch  of  the  imagination  to  reproduce  the 
whole  scene  as  described  in  the  Bible. 

Here,  too,  at  Dothan  sat  the  prophet  Elisha  when  the  Syrian 
hosts  surrounded  the  place,  and  his  servant  exclaimed,  "Alas, 
my  master,  how  shall  we  do?"  And  the  prophet  told  him  there 
were  more  with  him  than  with  them,  and  prayed  God  to  open 
his  eyes,  and  all  the  mountains  round  about  were  full  of  horses 
and  chariots.  It  was  marvelous  to  look  out  upon  the  very  moun- 
tains once  pressed  by  the  wheels  of  these  chariots  of  the  heavenly 
hosts,  which  were  there  to  defend  a  single  servant  of  God. 


152  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

Samaria  —  Herod's  Palace  —  Shechem  —  Samaritans  —  Gerizim  and  Ebal 

—  Jacob's  Well — Jerusalem  —  Mosqde  of  Omar — Solomon's  Stables 

—  Mount  of  Olives  —  Wailing-place  of  the  Jews  —  Subterranean 
Quarries  —  The  True  Calvary  and  Sepulcher  —  Bethany  —  Geth- 

semane. 

SAMARIA. 

We  turned  aside  and  climbed  the  hill  on  which  Samaria,  the 
once  proud  capital  of  Israel,  stood. 

When  we  call  up  the  history  of  this  city,  the  wealth  and  power 
that  it  possessed,  the  great  kings  that  sat  on  its  throne,  the  mighty- 
armies  that  stood  ready  to  defend  it,  we  could  not  realize  the 
desolation  that  reigned  about  us  as  we  walked  over  the  silent 
hilltop  and  looked  off  at  the  now  barren  mountains  that  surround 
it  on  every  side. 

On  one  side  of  the  hill  was  a  village  with  its  unshapely  houses 
clustered  together,  while  the  spot  where  once  stood  the  palace 
and  the  throne  was  all  planted  with  olive  trees;  but  among  these 
trees  I  counted  more  than  one  hundred  columns  standing,  and 
there  were  perhaps  as  many  more  lying  about.  These  columns 
were  chiseled  in  the  highest  style  of  the  art,  and  were  the  only 
lingering  rays  of  the  glory  of  this  once  proud  city. 

The  building  that  was  once  adorned  by  these  columns  was 
eighteen  hundred  yards  long.  Fragments  of  the  old  wall  were 
seen  here  and  there  round  about  the  hill,  and  a  remnant  of  the 
gate  where  it  is  said  the  four  lepers  went  forth  to  find  the  deserted 
camp  of  the  Midianites. 

It  was  from  this  city  that  Ahab  went  forth  to  his  death.     We 

were  shown  the  pool  where  they  washed  his  bloody  chariot,  and 

where  the  dogs  licked  his  blood,  according  to  the  saying  of  the 

prophet. 

SHECHEM. 

We  reached  Shechem,  Saturday  evening,  and  spent  the  Sab- 
bath in  this,  now  the  only  town  of  the  Samaritans.     Since  the 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  153 

time  of  Christ,  and  before,  these  Samaritans  have  had  the  Penta- 
teuch, and  have,  in  a  measure  at  least,  carried  out  its  rites  and 
ceremonies.  The  Jews,  since  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  have 
never  kept  the  passover,  and  yet  these  despised  Samaritans,  wlio 
live  in  Shechem,  go  ui)on  Mount  ( Jerizim,  that  stands  above  their 
city,  and  sacrifice  the  paschal  lamb,  and  keep  the  feast  according 
to  the  law  of  Moses.  They  have  no  union  or  communion  with 
any  other  people,  and  year  by  year  they  have  decreased  in  num- 
bers, until  now  there  are  but  two  hundred  of  them.  They  pos- 
sess the  oldest  copy  of  the  Pentateuch  in  the  world.  Carefully 
have  they  guarded  it  all  these  centuries.  It  is  said  to  be  3,57U 
years  old. 

The  plan  of  our  itinerary  arranged  to  see  this  old  manuscript, 
with  other  things,  on  the  Sablmth,  so  I  had  to  deny  myself  the 
great  pleasure  of  seeing  it.  But  I  am  God's,  soul  and  body,  and 
I  feel  that  if  I  cannot  deny  myself  for  him,  I  am  unworthy  of 
him.  I  do  not  think  I  am  a  formalist,  or  that  there  is  any  virtue 
in  mortifying  the  flesh,  but  when  my  pleasure  is  put  against  a 
plain  command  of  God,  my  pleasure  must  give  way. 

I  looked  upon  this  as  a  trial  of  my  faith.  It  was  suggested  to 
me  that  this  was  not  sightseeing;  we  were  going  to  a  synagogue, 
to  see  a  portion  of  God's  word,  and  there  could  be  no  harm  in  it. 
Some  suggested  that  it  was  an  act  of  worship.  But  I  said,  "To 
me  it  is  not  an  act  of  worship.  I  go  to  see  it  from  motives  of 
curiosity;  to  say  that  I  have  seen  this  oldest  copy  of  the  Penta- 
teuch in  existence."  Then  I  turned  to  God's  word  and  read,  "If 
thou  turn  away  thy  foot  from  the  Sabbath,  from  doing  thy  pleas- 
ure on  my  holy  day,  and  call  the  Sabbath  a  delight,  the  holy  of 
the  Lord,  honorable,  and  shall  honor  liim,  not  doing  thine  own 
ways,  nor  finding  thine  own  pleasure,  nor  speaking  thine  own 
words:  then  shalt  thou  delight  thyself  in  the  Lord;  and  I  will 
cause  thee  to  ride  upon  the  high  places  of  the  earth,  and  feed  thee 
with  the  heritage  of  Jacob  thy  father;  for  the  mouth  of  the  Lord 
hath  spoken  it." 

That  settled  the  matter  with  me,  and  I  never  saw  the  famous- 
manuscript. 

GERIZIM    AND   EBAL. 

Hard-by  the  village  of  Shechem  are  Gerizim  and  Ebal,  —  the 
Mount  of  Blessing  and  the  Mount  of  Cursing.     Six  men  were  to 


154  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

stand  on  Gerizim  to  pronounce  the  blessing,  and  six  on  Ebal, 
just  opposite,  to  pronounce  the  curses.  No  better  place  could 
have  been  selected.  There  is  room  for  a  great  company  between 
the  mountains,  and  the  conformation  of  the  mountains  is  such 
that  they  form  a  natural  sounding-board  to  throw  the  voice  down. 
In  looking  over  those  selected  to  pronounce  the  blessing,  I  find 
that  four  of  Leah's  and  both  of  Rachel's  children  were  selected, 
while  the  two  remaining  children  of  Leah  and  the  two  of  her 
maid  Bilhah  and  the  two  of  Rachel's  maid  Zilpah  were  chosen  to 
pronounce  the  curses. 

JACOB'S   WELL. 

I  was  somewhat  disappointed  in  Jacob's  well.  It  has  been 
fixed  over,  until  Jacob  himself  would  not  know  it,  and  while  they 
look  after  the  top,  and  the  candles  that  burn  about  it,  they  have 
suffered  rubbish  to  accumulate  in  the  bottom,  and  choke  out  all 
the  water.  Sychar  is  not  far  off,  on  the  side  of  the  hill.  It  was 
the  crowd,  moved  by  the  earnestness  of  the  woman  to  whom  he 
had  disclosed  himself  as  the  Messiah,  coming  down  the  hill  to 
which  Jesus  refers  when  he  said  to  his  disciples,  "  Lift  up  your 
€yes,  and  look  on  the  fields;  for  they  are  white  already  to  the 
harvest." 

This  day  ended  our  long  horseback-ride  from  Baalbek,  in  the 
far  north,  by  way  of  Damascus,  to  Jerusalem.  We  had  passed 
through  Phoenicia,  portions  of  Syria,  the  inheritance  of  Asher,  of 
Naphtali,  of  that  portion  of  Dan  in  the  north,  of  Zebulun,  of  Issa- 
char,  of  the  half-tribe  of  Manasseh,  of  Ephraim,  of  Benjamin, 
and  of  Judah.  We  had  ridden  over  mountains  and  plains,  along 
trails  that  one  would  think  it  impossible  for  a  man  or  a  woman 
to  ride  at  all,  much  less  in  safety.  But  these  gentle  Syrian  horses 
have  grown  up  among  such  paths,  and  they  were  as  sure  of  foot 
as  goats.  I  never  saw  one  scare  or  shy  during  the  whole  trip,  and 
their  endurance  was  marvelous.  AVe  saw  what  we  could  never 
have  seen  had  we  traveled  by  public  conveyance.  We  saw  how 
the  people  lived,  and  how  they  worked,  and  how  they  traveled, 
and,  take  it  all  in  all,  it  gave  us  an  idea  of  the  country  that  never 
could  have  been  obtained  in  any  other  way. 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  157 


JERUSALEM. 

We  spent  nearly  a  week  in  Jerusalem.  Among  the  first  places 
visited  was  the  Mosque  of  Omar,  that  occupies  the  exact  spot 
where  Solomon's  Temple  stood.  The  only  thing  of  interest  to  me 
was  the  location.  The  mosque,  grand  as  it  was,  was  but  so  much 
rubbish  in  my  way.  As  we  reached  the  door  of  the  mosque,  each 
one  of  us  had  to  put  slippers  over  our  shoes,  as  no  unhallowed 
foot  of  a  Christian  dog  was  allowed  to  touch  the  sacred  floor  of 
this  building.  We  had  been  subjected  to  this  requirement  at 
every  mosque  we  entered. 

But  wherever  we  went  we  were  expected  to  contribute  back- 
sheesh at  every  turn.  At  one  place  the  Arab  who  was  accom- 
panying us  came  to  a  spot  in  the  floor  covered  with  a  mat.  He 
reverently  uncovered  it,  and  showed  three  nails  and  a  half  driven 
in  the  floor,  and  informed  us  that  every  hundred  years  one  of 
these  nails  would  leave,  and  that  when  the  last  one  vanished,  the 
world  would  come  to  an  end.  He  also  told  us  that  if  we  would 
lay  a  piece  of  coin  on  the  head  of  one  of  the  nails  we  would  be 
sure  to  go  up  to  heaven.  I  laid  down  a  Turkish  coin  worth 
about  twelve  cents,  and  from  his  astonishment  and  action  you 
would  have  thought  I  was  going  up  that  minute.  He  gathered 
up  the  coin  and  put  it  in  his  own  belt.  Whether  he  will  report 
my  claim  or  not,  I  can't  tell.    I  shall  not  depend  on  him,  anyway. 

Under  the  center  of  the  dome  is  an  immense  rock,  perha])s 
twenty  feet  across,  said  by  the  Moslems  to  be  the  altar  of  sacrifice 
used  in  Solomon's  Temple.  It  is  a  rough,  unhewn  rock.  Near 
its  center  is  a  hole,  down  which,  they  say,  the  blood  ran.  At  one 
time,  Gabriel  came  down  and  stood  on  this  rock,  and  when  he 
started  back  to  heaven,  it  stuck  to  his  feet,  and  was  going  up  with 
him,  when  Mohammed  seized  and  held  it.  And  they  say  that  it 
is  now  suspended  in  the  air,  where  Mohammed  left  it;  and  they 
showed  us  the  print  of  his  hands  on  the  rock  where  he  seized  it. 
These  are  some  of  the  stories  that  are  told  us. 

The  location  and  the  area  came  u})  to  my  expectation,  and  I 
walked  over  the  grounds  and  tried  to  banish  the  buildings  with 
which  they  are  encumbered,  and  see  it  as  the  place  where  the 
God  of  Israel  —  our  God  —  saw  fit  to  record  his  name,  and  where 
he  visited  his  people. 


158  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

We  walked  leisurely  over  the  grounds.  I  was  busy  with  my 
own  thoughts,  and  paying  but  little  heed  to  the  stories  of  marvels 
and  wonders  as  told  by  my  Arab  guide.  God  was  in  my  heart. 
I  had  accepted  Jesus  Christ,  his  Son,  as  my  Saviour.  He  had 
given  his  Holy  Spirit  as  an  assurance  of  the  correctness  of  my 
faith,  and  as  my  Comforter.     And  wdiat  more  could  I  desire? 

I  had  been  to  Gerizim,  where  the  Samaritans  worshiped.  I 
was  now  on  Mount  Moriah,  in  Jerusalem,  and  the  words  of  Jesus 
to  the  woman  of  Samaria  came  sweetly  to  me:  "Woman,  believe 
me,  the  hour  cometh,  when  ye  shall  neither  in  this  mountain, 
[Gerizim],  nor  3^et  at  Jerusalem,  worship  the  Father.  .  .  .  But 
the  hour  cometh,  and  now  is,  when  the  true  worshipers  shall 
worship  the  Father  in  spirit  and  in  truth:  for  the  Father  seeketh 
such  to  worship  him.  God  is  a  Spirit:  and  they  that  worship 
him  must  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth." 

The  Temple  with  all  its  wealth  and  splendor,  with  altar  and 
ark,  had  gone  down  in  common  ruin.  The  goodly  stones  of  this 
great  house  had  been  thrown  down,  and  not  one  left, upon  another. 
But  God  is.  His  throne  is  in  the  heavens,  and  Jesus  Christ,  his 
Son,  and  our  Advocate,  is  before  that  throne,  not  with  the  blood 
of  bulls  and  of  goats,  but  with  his  own  blood,  making  atonement 
for  our  sins,  and  not  for  ours  only,  but  for  the  sins  of  the  whole 
world.  Then,  this  place  is  but  a  memory,  —  a  shadow  of  good 
things  that  have  come. 

SOLOMON'S   STABLES. 

After  we  had  seen  all  that  was  to  be  seen  above-ground,  we 
were  led  underground  into  what  is  called  Solomon's  stables.  Im- 
mense chambers  reaching  for  hundreds  of  yards,  hewn  out  of  the 
solid  rock,  with  pillars  left  standing,  and  arches  sprung  between 
them,  engaged  our  attention.  It  looked  as  if  we  should  never 
come  to  the  end  of  these  chambers.  For  many  generations  the 
existence  of  these  underground  chambers  was  unknown.  The 
people  of  Jerusalem  walked  over  them,  and  were  not  aware  of 
them. 

We  are  told  in  the  Scriptures  that  "Solomon  had  forty  thou- 
sand stalls  of  horses  for  his  chariots,  and  twelve  thousand  char- 
iots." Where  did  he,  where  could  he,  keep  all  these  horses? 
Here,  under  the   city,  the  mystery  is  solved,  and   the  question 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  ISQ- 

answered.     Here  is  room  enough  for  all  his  horses,  and  they  would 
be  entirely  out  of  the  way. 

When  Athaliah  was  dragged  from  the  house  of  the  Lord  to  be 
executed,  it  is  said,  "And  they  laid  hands  on  her;  and  she  went 
by  the  way  by  the  which  the  horses  came  into  the  king's  house: 
and  there  was  she  slain."  This  passage  shows  that  the  horses 
were  kept  near  the  king's  house,  and  also  near  the  house  of  the 
Lord. 

MOUNT   OF   OLIVES. 

From  Olivet  we  obtained  a  very  fine  view  of  the  Temple  site. 
Olivet  rises  above  Mount  Moriah,  and  from  its  summit  one  can 
look  down  upon  the  city,  and  were  the  Temple  standing,  could 
see  it  in  all  its  glory.  No  doubt  I  stood  near  the  spot  where 
Jesus  and  his  disciples  sat  when  he  told  them  of  the  destruction 
of  the  city  and  of  the  Temple,  and  of  the  tribulation  that  was 
coming.  His  great  heart  swelled  with  emotions  of  love  and  pity. 
The  tears  streamed  clown  his  cheeks,  when,  as  if  losing  sight  of 
those  round  about  him,  and  all  else,  he  sobbed  out  his  sorrow  in 
the  cry,  "0  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou  that  killest  the  prophets, 
and  stonest  them  which  are  sent  unto  thee,  how  often  would  I 
have  gathered  thy  children  together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her 
chickens  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not!  Behold,  your  house 
is  left  unto  you  desolate." 

Not  many  years  after  this,  the  storm  broke  upon  that  devoted 
city,  and  since  that  wonderful  hour  their  house  has  been  desolate^ 
and  the  people  he  loved  and  would  have  saved  scattered  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth,  with  no  protection,  no  sheltering  wing  over 
them. 

WAILING-PLACE   OF  THE   JEWS. 

I  went  down  to  what  is  known  as  the  "  Wailing-place  of  the 
Jews."  Here  were  scores  of  Jews,  from  lads  of  a  few  summers  ta 
old  men  who  had  grown  gray  and  stooped  in  waiting.  Stretching 
for  a  hundred  yards  or  more  was  a  part  of  the  old  wall  of  their 
city.  These  stones  were  there  in  the  days  when  their  Temple 
stood  on  Mount  Moriah,  when  their  altars  smoked  with  their 
sacrifices,  and  they  were  the  people  of  God,  known  and  recognized 
among  all  men.  And  now  they  were  strangers  in  their  own  city, 
and  here  they,  and  their  fathers  for  generations,  have  assembled 


160  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

every  day,  and,  with  their  faces  to  these  unsympathizing  stones, 
are  waiHng  out  their  sorrows,  and  waiting  for  the  coming  of  their 
Messiah.  I  saw  nothing  in  Jerusalem  that  touched  me  so  deeply 
as  the  scene  at  this  wall.  I  heard  their  murmur  all  along  the 
line  as  they  stood  with  their  backs  to  the  light,  and  their  faces  to 
the  hard,  senseless  stones.  "The  vail  was  upon  their  hearts." 
The  Master  was  near,  saying,  "Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door  and 
knock.  If  any  man  hear  my  voice,  and  open  the  door,  I  will 
come  in  to  him,  and  will  sup  with  him,  and  he  with  me."  They 
had  rejected  Him  who  said,  "  Behold,.!  lay  in  Sion  a  chief  corner- 
stone, elect,  precious:  and  he  that  believeth  on  him  shall  not  be 
confounded."  Instead  of  looking  to  this  precious  stone,  the}'^  were 
crying  to  the  senseless,  unsympathizing  stones  laid  up  by  human 
hands  in  this  wall,  —  stones  that  have  made  no  reply,  though 
w^ailed  to  for  ages. 

During  the  Sabbath  of  our  stay  in  Jerusalem,  I  preached  to 
our  little  company  in  the  parlor  of  the  hotel.  I  took  for  my  theme 
the  fact  that  Jesus,  the  Son  of  David  according  to  the  flesh,  was 
declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God  by  his  resurrection  from  the  dead. 
A  very  intelligent  Jew,  who  had  been  with  our  party  for  some 
days,  sought  an  opportunity  to  compliment  me  on  the  sermon, 
and  among  other  things,  he  said,  "The  Jews  did  not  crucify 
Christ  because  they  hated  him.  But  they  nailed  him  to  the  cross 
and  said  to  him,  if  he  would  come  down  from  the  cross,  they 
would  believe  on  him.  And  I  tell  you,  if  he  had  come  down  from 
the  cross,  there  is  not  a  Jew  in  the  whole  world  that  would  not 
have  believed  on  him."  I  said,  "Sir,  you  have  not  listened  to 
your  own  Scriptures.  They  tell  you  that  he  should  be  put  to 
death,  and  rise  again  from  the  dead.  And  this  was  a  mightier 
display  of  divine  power,  than  if  he  had  come  down  from  the  cross. 
You  have  asked  for  your  sign,  and  have  not  accepted  a  mightier 
sign  given  j^ou." 

It  is  said  that  these  Jews  at  their  wailing-place  use  the  Lamen- 
tations of  Jeremiah  as  their  texts.  Among  those  there  the  day  I 
saw  them,  my  guide  told  me  were  some  of  the  richest  Jews  in 
Jerusalem.  I  could  not  but  mark  the  earnestness  and  the  serious- 
ness that  characterized  old  and  young.  When  I  knew  of  the  op- 
pression to  which  they  are  subjected  in  this  the  land  of  their 
fathers,  I  could  not  wonder  so  much  that  thev  never  wearied  in 


My  Trip  to   thk  Orient.  161 

crying  for  help.     And  one  generation   is  taught  by  another  that 
here  they  are  to  tind  relief. 

SUBTERRANEAN  QUARRIES. 

We  went  all  through  the  subterranean  quarries  that  lie  beneath 
the  city.  From  these  quarries  much  of  the  stone  used  in  the 
building  of  the  city  was  taken.  And  these  great  caverns  are 
silent  monuments  of  the  wisdom,  skill,  and  energy  of  this  people 
in  their  palmy  days. 

We  visited  the  Church  of  the  Hoh'  ISepulcher,  as  it  is  called. 
Here  we  were  shown  the  place  of  the  crucifixion,  the  sepulcher, 
etc.  I  took  no  interest  whatever  in  any  of  these  places;  for,  in 
the  first  place,  if  they  were  the  places  where  Christ  was  crucified, 
and  where  he  was  buried,  the  whole  thing  has  been  so  marred, 
that  nothing  is  left  but  churches,  altars,  and  other  insignia  of 
superstition.  The  sepulcher  as  shown  is  no  more  like  the  sepul- 
cher described  by  the  Evangelists,  than  night  is  like  day.  In  the 
next  place,  these  things  are  located  inside  the  city,  whereas 
Christ  was  crucified  "outside  the  gate."  I  Avas  as  much  inter- 
ested in  the  stories  told  me  by  my  guide  as  in  these.  He  said, 
when  the  cross  was  let  down  into  its  place  it  struck  tlie  skull 
of  Adam,  and  then  he  showed  me  that  skull  inclosed  in  brass, 
and  had  me  put  my  hand  upon  it.  We  went  a  little  farther,  and 
he  showed  me  a  niche  in  the  wall,  near  an  altar.  It  was  covered 
with  a  wire  gauze,  and  had  a  red  stain  near  the  bottom,  on  the 
inside.  He  said  when  the  soldier  pierced  the  side  of  the  Saviour, 
and  when  the  blood  flowed  down  and  struck  Adam,  that  he  sprang 
to  life  and  rose  from  the  dead.  He  did  n't  tell  me  how  he  was 
getting  along  without  his  skull,  that  was  incased  in  that  brass  box. 

THE  TRUE  CALVARY  AND  SEPULCHER. 

When  General  Gordon  was  here,  he  went  outside  the  city,  and 
with  his  Bible  in  his  hand,  selected  a  hill  that  he  claimed  was 
the  true  Calvary.  I  was  told  nothing  of  this  until  we  reached  the 
place.  For  some  moments  I  said  nothing.  But  my  thoughts 
were  busy.  The  shape  of  the  hill  answered  the  description.  It 
was  north  of  the  city,  outside   the  gate,  near  the  highway  to 


162  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

Damascus,  and  from  my  heart  I  exclaimed,  "  I  believe  General 
Gordon  is  right."  This  place  answers  to  every  token.  Just  below 
us,  within  a  stone's-throw,  were  some  tombs,  hewn  out  of  the  rock. 
We  went  in  and  examined  them.  They  were  like  the  one  described 
by  the  Evangelists. 

John  tells  us,  "  Now  in  the  place  where  he  was  crucified  there 
was  a  garden;  and  in  the  garden  a  new  sepulcher,  wherein  was 
never  man  yet  laid.  There  laid  they  Jesus,  therefore,  because 
of  the  Jews'  preparation  day;  for  the  sepulcher  was  nigh  at 
hand." 

The  door  of  this  sepulcher  is  so  low  that  one  has  to  stoop  to 
look  into  it,  as  John  did  on  the  morning  of  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus.  The  ante-chamber  is  large  enough  to  hold  a  number  of 
persons,  while  the  places  prepared  for  the  bodies  lie  along  the 
wall,  so  that  an  angel  could  sit  "  one  at  the  head,  and  the  other 
at  the  feet,  where  the  body  of  Jesus  had  lain."  In  front  of  the 
door  there  was  a  groove  cut  in  the  solid  rock,  perhaps  a  foot  wide 
and  a  foot  deep.  In  this  groove  was  a  great  stone  like  a  mill- 
stone, flattened  on  one  edge.  This  stone  could  be  easily  rolled 
until  it  fell  on  its  flattened  side  immediately  in  front  of  the  door. 
Then  it  would  be  hard  to  roll  away.  The  women  knew  this,  and 
asked,  "  Who  shall  roll  us  away  the  stone  .  .  .  ?  for  it  was  very 
great." 

I  was  thoroughly  convinced  that  this  is  the  identical  sepulcher 
in  which  Jesus  was  buried. 

After  I  reached  home,  I  was  told  that  when  the  Rev.  Hugh 
Price  Hughes,  a  wise  man,  and  a  leader  in  Methodism  in  England, 
visited  this  sepulcher,  and  studied  the  situation,  he  was  so  over- 
whelmmgly  convinced,  that  he  threw  himself  down  on  the  place 
"where  the  body  of  Jesus  had  lain."  General  Gordon  was 
equally  certain  of  this  fact. 

I  turned  my  feet  back  to  Jerusalem,  feeling  that  I  had  been  to 
the  true  Golgotha  of  the  Scriptures,  and  I  felt  glad  that  neither 
Moslem  nor  Christian  had  fallen  upon  this  place  to  destroy  it  by 
mosque  or  church. 

The  day  I  visited  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulcher,  we  saw  a 
lot  of  angry  men  lined  up,  and  a  number  of  Turkish  soldiers  with 
drawn  swords,  trying  to  keep  the  peace.  It  was  Monday,  and  I 
was  told  that  the  day  before  there  had  been  trouble  between  the 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  163 

Coptic  and  the  Roman  Catholic  Christians  about  who  should 
sweep  the  dust  on  a  part  of  the  floor  about  the  sepulcher. 

The  Roman,  the  Greek,  the  Coptic,  and  Armenian,  and  perhaps 
others,  have  their  section  of  the  floor  assigned  to  them,  and  any 
invasion  of  one  another's  rights  is  met  with  blows,  and  sometimes 
with  death.  The  Turkish  soldiers  have  to  be  ever  on  hand  to 
quell  these  disturbances.  On  Sunday  they  had  come  to  blows, 
and  several  had  been  knocked  down  and  bruised.  They  were  not 
satisfied  with  the  results  of  Sunday's  fight,  and  had  assembled  in 
larger  numbers  to  have  it  out.  What  a  spectacle  does  this  pre- 
sent to  the  world,  and  to  these  followers  of  Mohammed,  when 
men  will  fight  and  kill  each  other  over  the  dust  of  the  floor.  And 
yet  this  is  the  legitimate  result  of  "worshiping  the  creature  more 
than  the  Creator,  who  is  over  all  God,  blessed  forever."  Men 
forget  the  lesson  of  the  brazen  serpent.  It  was  taken  with  Israel 
into  Canaan,  and  after  a  time  they  commenced  to  worship  it.  Of 
Hezekiah  it  is  said,  "He  removed  the  high  places,  and  brake  the 
images,  and  cut  down  the  groves,  and  brake  in  pieces  the  brazen 
serpent  that  Moses  had  made:  for  unto  those  days  the  children 
of  Israel  did  burn  incense  to  it:  and  he  called  it  Nehushtan," 
which  means  a  piece  of  brass.     It  was  nothing  more. 

At  one  place  there  was  a  stone  pillar  protected  by  wire  gauze, 
called  the  pillar  of  Moses.  By  it  lay  a  rod.  The  faithful  can 
poke  this  rod  through  an  opening  left  for  it,  and  touch  the  pillar 
and  then  kiss  the  end  of  the  rod.  On  one  side  were  three  stones, 
also  protected  by  wire,  but  a  little  end  of  each  was  left  sticking 
out.  One  of  these  stones  was  brought  from  Sinai,  one  from  the 
Jordan,  and  one  from  Mount  Moriah.  Do  you  know  that  the 
ends  of  these  stones  are  kissed  by  the  faithful  as  they  visit  this 
holy  place?  They  are  good,  hard  rocks,  and  of  good  size,  or  they 
would,  like  the  foot  of  the  statue  of  St.  Peter  at  Rome,  be  kissed 
away.  But,  then,  that  is  a  matter  of  small  importance,  as  there 
are  plenty  more  of  the  same  sort,  where  these  came  from,  and  are 
just  as  sacred. 

We  were  conducted  down  the  Via  Dolorosa,  and  had  the  several 
stations  of  that  way  pointed  out  to  us.  One  is  shown  where  there 
is  a  hand-print  in  the  solid  rock,  and  we  were  gravely  told  that 
that  print  was  made  by  the  hand  of  Christ  as  he  staggered  under 
his  cross  and  fell  against  the  wall. 


164  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

The  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  lying  between  Jerusalem  and 
Mount  Olivet,  is  very  narrow,  and  can  hardly  be  called  a  valley. 
The  brook  Kedron  passes  down  through  it,  but  at  this  season  of 
the  year  it  is  perfectly  dry.  The  valley  of  Jehoshaphat  widens 
out  into  the  valley  of  Hinnom,  where  the  offal  of  this  great  city 
was  burned  in  the  olden  times. 

Absalom's  tomb  is  on  the  edge  of  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat.  I 
think  I  should  have  recognized  it  from  the  pictures  of  it  I  have 
seen. 

BETHANY. 

Bethany  and  Bethphage  of  Christ's  time  are  not  what  they 
were  then.  They  now^  number  but  a  few  very  ordinary  houses, 
and  all  have  an  air  of  neglect. 

GETHSEMANE. 

I  was  disappointed  in  what  is  called  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane. 
It  is  a  little  inclosure  near  the  base  of  Olivet,  with  six  or  seven 
old  olive  trees.  Flowers  are  growing  in  profusion  all  inside  of 
the  iron  inclosure.  The  dimensions  of  it  by  no  means  answer  to 
the  demands  of  Scripture.  They  tell  us  that  He  took  His  disciples 
into  a  garden,  requested  them  to  pray  with  Him,  then  taking  the 
three,  He  went  still  farther,  and  leaving  them.  He  went  about  a 
stone's-cast  farther.  Now,  all  this  would  require  a  space  of  a 
hundred  yards  or  more;  but  this  garden  is  hardly  fifty  feet  across, 
either  way.  It  may  occupy  part  of  the  garden  site,  but  not  all 
of  it. 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  l(j.' 


CHAPTER   IX. 

Jericho — Fountain  of  Elisha  —  Dead  Sea  —  Jordan  —  Solomon's  Pools  — 
JoppA  —  Cairo  —  The  Citadel  —  The  Nile  —  Pyramids  —  Sphinx  — 
Memphis  —  Tombs  of  the  Kings  and  Sacred  Bulls  —  ^NIoiiammkoan 
University — Heliopolis,  or  On — Alexandria  —  Pompey's  Pillar  — 
Naples  —  Museum — Image  of  Diana  —  Home. 

JERICHO.  — FOUNTAIN    OF  ELISHA. 

We  drove  down  to  Jericho.  \¥e  went  down  nearly  the  entire 
way.  When  we  reached  the  site  of  Jericho  we  found  it  but  a 
heap  of  ruins.  There  was  not  enough  about  it  to  enable  us  to 
call  up  that  wonderful  scene  of  its  investment  and  fall.  Near  it 
is  the  Fountain  of  Elisha.  We  find  that  after  the  translation  of 
Elijah,  Elisha  tarried  at  Jericho.  "  And  the  men  of  the  city  said 
unto  Elisha,  Behold,  I  pray  thee,  the  situation  of  the  city  is 
pleasant,  as  my  lord  seeth:  but  the  water  is  naught,  and  the 
ground  barren.  And  he  said,  Bring  me  a  new  cruse,  and  put  salt 
therein.  And  they  brought  it  to  him.  And  he  went  forth  unto 
the  spring  of  the  waters,  and  cast  the  salt  in  there,  and  said, 
Thus  saith  the  Lord,  I  have  healed  these  waters;  there  shall  not 
be  from  thence  any  more  death  or  barren  land." 

This  is  a  very  large  fountain.  A  small  river  flows  off  from  it, 
and  we  found  the  water  very  good.  The  people  of  the  village 
below  were  using  it  for  irrigating  purposes.  So  if  this  were  the 
spring  healed,  it  is  still  in  a  healthy  condition. 

DEAD   SEA. 

We  drove  down  to  the  Dead  Sea.  There  was  a  strong  breeze 
blowing,  and,  contrary  to  my  expectation,  waves  of  considerable 
size  were  breaking  on  the  shore.  The  water  was  clear  and  beauti- 
ful. 'Across  the  sea  we  could  see  the  ruins  of  the  old  prison 
Macherus,  in  which  John  the  Baptist  was  beheaded. 

THE   RIVER  JORDAN. 

We  visited  the  Jordan  a  few  miles  above  the  sea.  The  waters 
of  the  river,  before  reaching  the  Dead  Sea,  become  very  turbid 


166  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

and  the  current  is  very  strong,  especially  beneath  the  surface,  so 
much  so  that  it  is  not  safe  to  go  into  it.  A  few  years  ago,  an  old 
lady  —  a  Methodist  —  concluded  she  must  be  immersed  in  the 
Jordan.  She  said  she  did  not  give  up  her  Methodism,  or  forego 
her  infant  baptism,  but  it  was  just  the  whim  of  an  old  woman. 
A  party,  who  was  present,  told  me  that  it  took  four  men  to  do 
it.  Two  had  to  hold  her  from  being  swept  down  the  stream,  and 
the  other  two  immersed  her.  Beyond  the  Jordan  we  could  see 
Mount  Nebo,  where  Moses  viewed  the  promised  land,  and  died. 

We  made  a  special  trip  to  Bethlehem.  On  the  way  we  passed 
the  tomb  of  Rachel.  No  doubt  but  the  body  of  this  beloved  wife 
of  Jacob  lies  beneath  this  pile.  In  all  ages  of  Israel's  history,  it 
has  been  recognized,  while  the  Scripture  tells  of  her  death  and 
burial  about  this  place. 

Here  we  met  a  funeral  procession,  bearing  the  body  of  a  child 
to  its  last  resting-place.  The  burial  custom  of  this  place  is  pecu- 
liar. When  a  child  dies,  a  stranger  to  the  family  is  selected  to 
bear  the  body.  This  he  does  in  his  arms.  There  is  no  coffin. 
How  the  bod}^  was  robed,  I  could  not  see;  for  a  cloth  was  thrown 
over  it.  A  number  went  before,  and  others  followed  the  corpse, 
wailing  in  a  most  doleful  voice.  When  they  reach  the  cemetery, 
no  grave  is  dug,  but  the  body  is  laid  on  the  surface  of  the  ground 
and  cement  is  piled  round  it  till  it  reaches  a  little  above  the 
body,  when  sticks  are  laid  across  it,  and  the  cement  is  then  piled 
on  until  it  reaches  a  height  of  two  or  three  feet,  and  the  top  is 
sloped  off  on  each  side  like  the  roof  of  a  house.  I  saw  hundreds 
of  such  graves  in  the  cemetery  where  stands  the  tomb  of  Rachel. 
This  is  the  burying-place  for  Bethlehem.  And  this  is  why  the 
prophet,  referring  to  the  innocents  slain  by  Herod,  said,  "  In  Rama 
was  there  a  voice  heard,  lamentation,  and  weeping,  and  great 
mourning,  Rachel  weeping  for  her  children,  and  would  not  be 
comforted,  because  they  are  not."  Here,  hard-by  the  tomb  of 
Rachel,  —  the  mother  of  these  Hebrews,  —  the  disconsolate 
mothers  of  these  children  met  to  bewail  their  dead.  I  saw  in  the 
early  morning,  in  a  cemetery,  thirty  or  forty  women  who  had  met 
to  bewail  their  dead. 

Not  far  from  Bethlehem  —  the  home  of  David  —  is  a  little  village 
on  the  mountain  side,  where  Kish,  the  father  of  Saul,  the  first 
king  of  Israel,  lived.  So  these  first  two  kings  of  Israel  were  born 
near  each  other. 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  1G' 


SOLOMON'S   POOLS. 


Solomon's  Pools,  three  in  numln'r,  and  of  great  si/X',  were  shown 
us.  They  are  now  without  water,  but  a  little  energy  and  labor 
would  put  them  in  condition  to  liold  water.  But  the  people  who 
now  occupy  and  have  control  of  this  country  seem  to  have  no 
enterprise  whatever,  and  they  hinder  or  i)revent  those  who 
would  do  something. 

The  fields  of  Bethlehem  are  well  fitted  for  the  grazing  of  flocks 
and  herds.  Somewhere  near  the  city,  the  angels  appeared  to  the 
shepherds  as  they  watched  their  flocks  by  night. 

No  one  can  tell  the  house  in  which  Jesus  was  born;  and  even 
if  it  ever  were  known,  everything  is  so  changed  now  by  the 
churches  built  here  and  there,  that  Mary  herself  could  not  recog- 
nize it. 

Our  interpreter,  who  lives  in  Jerusalem,  invited  all  our  party 
to  dine  at  his  home.  His  mother,  and  other  children  of  the  family, 
could  not  speak  a  word  of  English,  and  not  one  of  us  could  speak 
a  word  of  Arabic,  so  we  had  to  depend  upon  her  son  to  interpret 
for  us.     We  got  a  good  dinner,  and  spent  a  very  pleasant  evening. 

Many  have  thought  that  a  railroad  running  into  Jerusalem 
will  take  it  from  its  ancient  setting,  and  make  a  modern  city  of 
it;  that  it  will  be  no  longer  the  Jerusalem  of  the  long  ago,  to 
which  pilgrimages  from  all  over  the  world  are  made.  I  do  not 
share  this  feeling.  I  have  seen  enough  of  discomfort,  ignorance, 
and  squalor  in  the  streets  and  houses  of  this  old  city,  to  welcome 
anything  that  will  make  a  change  for  the  better.  What  are  old 
things,  when  they  stand  in  the  way  progress  or  the  happiness  of 
the  people? 

This  road  from  Joppa  has  done  one  thing  not  commonly  done 
by  rail.     It  is  carrying  fresh  water  in  car-loads  into  the  city. 

The  supply  of  water  for  Jerusalem  is  poorer  and  more  limited 
than  that  in  any  city  I  ever  saw.  The  supply  is  totally  inade- 
quate to  the  wants  of  the  people.  A  lady  missionary  told  one  of 
the  members  of  our  party  that  they  would  buy  one  jar  of  water 
a  day,  and  that  they  had  to  husband  every  drop  of  it. 

Many  of  the  children  of  the  lower  classes  look  as  if  they  had 
hardly  ever  had  their  faces  washed.  Hardly  a  child  is  to  be  seen 
among  them  that  has  not  some  affection  of  the  eyes.     Tlie  lashes 


168  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

were  all  mattered  and  matted  together,  and  the  lids  were  swollen 
and  inflamed,  owing  largely,  if  not  altogether,  to  the  neglect  of 
bathing  their  faces  and  their  eyes. 

The  railroad  brings  in  a  supply  every  day,  and  it  is  an  inter- 
esting sight  to  see  the  place  where  they  discharge  it  surrounded 
by  men  with  goatskin  bottles.  Some  of  these  skins  will  hold  ten 
gallons,  at  least.  They  will  fill  them,  shng  them  across  their 
backs,  and  go  throughout  the  city  selling  it.  The  soil  and  dust 
in  and  about  the  city  is  largely  impregnated  with  lime,  that, 
when  once  upon  the  skin,  almost  defies  the  power  of  soap  to 
thoroughly  remove.  Many  families  have  cisterns,  and  in  the 
rainy  season  they  fill  these,  and  in  large  measure  are  independent; 
but  the  poorer  classes  are  the  ones  that  must  suffer. 

JOPPA. 

We  went  from  Jerusalem  to  Joppa,  —  Jaffa  as  it  is  now  called, 
—  passing  over  some  historic  ground.  We  had  the  birthplace  of 
Samson  pointed  out  to  us.  We  passed  through  the  valley  of 
Sharon,  in  which  we  saw  some  very  good  land.  Lydda,  the  place 
where  Peter  healed  ^Eneas  of  the  palsy,  after  having  been  afflicted 
with  it  for  eight  years,  was  on  this  road,  "  nigh  to  Joppa."  When 
in  Joppa,  the  house  of  Dorcas,  whom  Peter  raised  to  life,  was 
visited  by  us;  also  the  house  of  Simon  the  tanner,  with  whom 
Peter  was  lodged  when  sent  for  to  go  to  Casarea  to  speak  to 
Cornelius  words  whereby  he  and  all  his  house  were  to  be  saved. 
This  house  is  by  the  seaside,  and  we  all  went  up  upon  the  roof 
where  Peter  had  his  vision.  It  was  not  a  very  auspicious  day  for 
such  a  visit,  for  it  was  pouring  down  rain.  But  while  upon  the 
housetop,  it  held  up,  and  we  enjoyed  that  part  of  it. 

While  at  Joppa  we  saw  our  first  banyan  tree.  I  recognized  it 
at  once,  though  I  had  never  seen  one  before.  Though  it  was  not 
an  old  one,  yet  the  spreading  branches  had  thrown  down  shoots 
that  had  taken  roots  in  the  earth,  thus  increasing  the  area  and 
the  supports  of  the  parent  tree. 

The  storm  that  passed  that  day  had  raised  the  waves  of  the 
Mediterranean,  and  made  the  sea  very  rough.  The  steamer  upon 
which  we  were  to  sail  for  Port  vSaid,  at  the  head  of  the  Suez  Canal, 
lay  some  distance  out  from  the  city,  and  we  had  to  go  out  in  a 


My  Trip  to  thk  Ortknt.  K'/j 

small  boat.  The  rough  sea  tossed  our  l)oat  about  in  the  most 
exciting  and  lively  manner.  When  we  readied  the  shi]»,  the 
question  was,  how  we  were  to  get  aboard,  for  neither  ship  nor 
boat  was  still  for  a  moment.  Sometimes  we  were  away  below  the 
ship's  ladder,  and  the  next  moment  we  would  go  shooting  up 
above  it.  But  our  experienced  boatmen  were  equal  to  the  emer- 
gency. Two  of  them  would  lay  hold  of  one  of  the  party  and  wait 
till  a  wave  lifted  our  boat  up  near  the  ladder,  when  they  would 
pitch  the  one  on  hand  up  on  the  ladder,  where  two  others  would 
steady  them  and  lead  them  up  the  side  into  the  ship.  When  it 
came  Brother  and  Sister  Pepper's  turn,  —  each  of  them  weighing 
over  two  hundred,  —  the  men  had  to  put  forth  all  their  powers, 
but  they  landed  them  safely.  When  I  was  tossed  up,  my  Jewish 
friend,  who  was  just  behind  me,  said  I  landed  all  right,  for  I 
landed  on  my  knees.     Anyway,  I  got  up  all  right. 

Mrs.  Bates  of  Kansas  City  was  the  only  one  of  our  party  who 
proved  herself  a  true  sailor.  All  the  rest  of  us  paid  tribute  to 
Neptune,  and  retired  for  the  rest  of  the  trip.  We  reached  Port 
Said  early  the  next  morning,  and  took  the  train  for  Cairo. 

It  is  wonderful  what  the  English  are  doing  for  this  old  land. 
The  Mohammedans,  with  their  fanaticism,  superstitions,  and 
opposition  to  change  and  progress,  still  nominally  hold  the  coun- 
try, but  England  has  quietly  but  firmly  taken  hold  of  the  helm, 
and  while  others  may  do  the  rowing,  she  guides  the  affairs  of  the 
ship  of  state.  The  Khedive  has  his  palace,  his  retinue  of  ser- 
vants, and  his  soldiers;  but  his  authority  is  only  tinsel. 

CAIRO. 

When  we  reached  Cairo  we  found  the  city  all  a-tlutter  with 
flags  and  streamers,  and  a  holiday  look  about  the  whole  city. 
We  found  that  the  Khedive,  or  governor,  was  just  on  his  return 
from  a  visit  to  Europe.  We  caught  sight  of  him  once  or  twice 
as  he  drove  about  the  city.  He  was  surrounded  by  a  retinue  of 
soldiers,  and  before  him,  on  foot,  ran  two  heralds,  dressed  in  the 
most  gaudy  uniform,  with  staffs  in  their  hands,  shouting  to  clear 
the  way  before  him.  The  horses  m  the  Khedive's  carriage  were 
in  a  lively  trot,  and  yet  these  heralds  kept  ahead  of  them.  The 
crowds  in  the  streets  parted  before  these  heralds,  like  waves  before 
the  prow  of  a  ship. 


170  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

Cairo  is  a  much  larger  place  than  I  expected  to  see,  and  it  has 
all  the  spring  and  appearance  of  a  modern  city.  The  streets  are 
wide  and  clean,  while  electric  cars  are  found  on  very  many  of 
them.  There  are  a  great  many  fine  stores  and  residences,  while 
the  great  majority  of  the  buildings  are  modern  in  their  archi- 
tecture. 

From  childhood  I  had  read  of  Egypt,  the  Nile,  the  Pyramids, 
and  other  wonders  of  this  strange  land,  and  I  had  ever  longed 
for  a  visit  to  it.  And  now,  in  the  evening  of  my  life,  after  num- 
bering my  threescore  and  fourteen,  I  had  at  last  realized  the 
dream  of  my  childhood,  and  stood  amid  its  palms  and  hstened 
to  the  murmur  of  its  world-renowned  river.  I  could  scarcely 
realize  the  fact,  but  as  I  looked  up  the  Nile  and  saw  the  shadowy 
outlines  of  the  Pyramids  in  the  distance,  I  knew  it  was  not  a 
dream. 

Our  first  visit  was  to  Old  Cairo,  and  the  Citadel  that  crowns  the 
hill  in  the  heart  of  the  town.  As  we  drove  through  the  narrow, 
crooked  streets  and  witnessed  the  squalor  on  every  hand,  we  could 
appreciate  what  a  change  had  come  over  the  place  in  the  birth 
of  the  new  city.  As  we  stood  on  the  hill  on  which  the  Citadel  is 
built,  we  had  a  fine  view  of  the  whole  of  Cairo,  old  and  new.  It 
was  a  lovely  sight.  But  the  great  number  of  mosques  and  mina- 
rets that  marked  every  quarter  showed  all  was  under  the  domin- 
ion of  the  Moslem  power,  and  that  it  would  take  generations  to 
break  the  spiritual  power  of  this  hoary  superstition. 

THE   CITADEL. 

As  we  stood  at  one  point  and  looked  over  the  walls  some  forty 
feet  in  height,  an  incident  was  related  to  us  that  took  place  in 
1806.  Mehemet  Ali,  the  founder  of  the  present  dynasty,  was  in 
possession  of  the  Citadel.  He  sent  out  an  invitation  to  all  the 
Mameluke  beys  in  the  land  to  come  to  the  Citadel.  These 
Mamelukes  had  ruled  Egypt  for  a  long  time.  They  were  rich 
and  they  were  powerful.  On  the  day  appointed,  480  came.  They 
were  decorated  in  all  the  insignia  of  their  office.  Their  horses, 
of  the  best  breed,  were  caparisoned  with  all  the  dazzling  splendor 
of  Oriental  tinsel  and  ornament.  No  such  pageant  had  ever 
before  adorned  the  parade-grounds  of  the  Citadel.     When,  all  at 


My  Trii'  to  thk  Okiknt.  171 

once,  the  great  iron  doors  were  closed,  and  a  heavy  discharge  of 
musketry  broke  forth  on  all  sides,  and  horse  and  rider  went 
down  together  in  a  bloody  death.  The  treacherous  Mehemet 
Ali  had  ordered  the  indiscriminate  slaughter  of  these  helpless  and 
entrapped  men.  One  daring,  desperate  young  Mameluke  turned 
his  horse's  head  to  the  wall;  over  the  parapet  he  leapt  to  the 
ground,  forty  feet  below.  In  the  fall,  his  horse's  legs  were  broken, 
but,  strange  to  say,  he  was  almost  unhurt,  and  in  the  confusion 
he  made  good  his  escape.  On  the  parapet  is  chiseled  a  horseshoe 
to  mark  the  place  where  this  desperate  leap  was  made. 

After  Mehemet  All's  death,  his  body  was  brought  back  and 
buried  in  the  Citadel,  where  so  many  illustrious  men  of  his  line 
lay. 

We  visited  the  sepulchers  of  a  number  of  the  Mamelukes. 

Not  far  from  the  Citadel  is  a  mosque,  built  in  1346.  It  is  l)uilt 
with  dome  and  half-domes,  after  the  style  of  so  many  others.  Its 
minaret  is  the  tallest  in  Cairo,  being  290  feet  high.  Near  it  stands 
a  half-tinished  mosque,  commenced  some  years  ago  by  the  grand- 
mother of  the  present  Khedive.  In  the  midst  of  the  work  her 
Moslem  architect  died,  and  as  she  would  suffer  no  "Christian 
dog"  to  have  anything  to  do  with  it,  it  stands,  as  it  has  done  for 
years,  unfinished. 

THE  NILE. 
We  crossed  the  Nile  to  see  Nilometer,  the  instrument  by  which 
the  rise  and  fall  of  the  Nile  is  measured.  At  certain  seasons  this 
instrument  is  watched  with  the  greatest  solicitude.  The  highest 
and  lowest  points  of  the  Nile  are  marked  by  a  difference  of 
twenty-five  feet. 

THE  PYRAMIDS. 
We  took  carriages  and  drove  out  seven  miles  from  Cairo  to  the 
great  Pyramids.  The  road  we  took  is  one  of  the  most  lovely 
drives  we  have  enjoyed.  It  is  thrown  up  several  feet  above  the 
flooded  fields  on  each  side,  and  a  row  of  trees  is  planted  on  each 
side,  that  shades  the  whole  way.  This  road  is  macadamized,  and 
kept  as  level  and  smooth  as  a  floor.  It  is  also  sprinkled.  All 
the  land  on  either  side  was  under  water,  preparing  for  still 
another  crop  before   the  season  is  over.     They  flood  the   land 


172  My  Trip  to  the  (Jrient. 

several  iiK-hes  deep,  and  let  the  water  stand  upon  it  for  some 
weeks.  It  is  planted  as  soon  as  possible  after  the  water  is  drawn 
off,  and  I  was  told  that  a  crop  of  corn  (maize)  would  mature  in 
six  weeks  after  planting. 

I  was  surprised  at  the  great  quantity  of  corn  that  is  planted 
all  over  the  East.  While  passing  through  Palestine,  we  saw 
green  corn  in  market,  and  said  we  should  like  a  good  mess  of  corn. 
These  people  know  nothing  of  our  mode  of  preparing  corn. 
We  told  them  to  boil  it  on  the  cob.  So  at  the  conclusion  of  our 
meal  here  came  the  corn,  fully  matured,  and  hard,  served  as  a 
dessert.  Of  course  we  had  to  compliment  our  provider  and  our 
cook  by  gnawing  and  eating  a  few  grains.  But  it  was  hard  work, 
in  more  ways  than  one. 

The  soil  of  Egypt,  though  it  has  been  under  cultivation  for  over 
four  thousand  years,  is  as  rich  as  anything  you  can  conceive  of. 
We  drove  for  miles  and  miles  over  it,  in  various  directions  from 
Cairo,  and  it  was  the  same  everywhere.  I  am  not  surprised  at 
the  record  made  during  the ''seven  plenteous  years,"  that  " the 
earth  brought  forth  by  handfuls."  It  was  capable  of  it  then;  it 
is  capable  of  it  now.  Nothing  is  allowed  to  cumber  the  ground 
when  it  has  accomplished  its  purpose.  Even  the  cotton-stalks 
are  carefully  pulled  up  by  the  roots,  packed  in  great  bundles 
on  camels,  and  borne  away  to  burn  as  fuel.  We  frequently  met 
great  strings  of  camels  loaded  with  cotton-stalks.  Here,  as  well 
as  in  Palestine,  fuel,  especially  for  cooking  purposes,  is  made  of 
almost  anything  that  grows. 

On  the  outer  edge  of  the  road  to  the  Pyramids  the  English 
have  constructed  an  electric  tramway  out  to  the  Pyramids.  So, 
even  in  this  old  country,  with  its  fossilized  customs,  the  Christian 
nations  of  earth  are  introducing  conveniences  and  improvements. 

Before  we  reached  the  Pyramids,  the  Arab  guides  and  helpers 
were  trotting  along  by  the  side  of  our  carriages,  and  in  broken 
English  were  offering  their  services,  and  praising  their  virtues 
and  powers  as  helpers.  By  some  means  they  knew  we  were 
Americans,  and  they  called  over  the  names  of  the  Americans 
whom  they  had  helped  up  the  Pyramids.  From  that  time  till 
we  left,  they  were  hke  our  shadows,  first  helping,  and  from  that 
time  on  crying  for  "  backsheesh." 

Nearly  all  our  party  climbed  to  the  top  of  old  Cheops.     I  knew 


My  Trti'  to  the  Orient.  17o 

I  could  do  but  one,  so  1  chose  to  go  inside  and  see  where  the 
kings  and  queens  had  been  hiid  away  when  this  work  of  forty 
centuries  ago  was  built  as  their  resting-place.  Three  Arabs  of- 
fered to  help  me  in  and  out.  Two  of  them  took  me  by  the  hands, 
while  the  other  walked  behind  to  "boost"  me  over  the  hard 
places.  I  entered  on  the  north  side,  and  went  down  an  inclined 
opening  of  perhaps  thirty-five  or  forty  degrees.  Down,  down,  I 
went,  placing  my  feet  in  little  indentations  of  this  inclined  floor, 
the  Arab  that  went  before  me  often  placing  his  bare  foot  at  the 
edge  to  keep  mine  from  slipping.  This  opening,  lined  on  all 
sides  with  marble,  points  directly  to  the  north  or  polar  star.  So 
every  night  from  its  depths  can  be  seen  this  noted  star.  This, 
with  the  fact  that  all  the  Pyramids  are  built  with  reference  to 
the  points  of  the  compass,  shows  that  those  who  planned  them 
were  scientific  men. 

After  going  down  for  a  great  distance,  we  came  to  where  a  rock 
lay  so  low  overhead,  that  I  had  to  get  down  on  my  hands  and 
knees  to  get  through.  Our  way  then  led  upward  about  as  far 
as  we  had  gone  downward.  At  one  point  we  reached  a  square 
hole  that  went  down  like  a  well.  One  of  the  Arabs  took  a  candle 
and  went  down  some  twenty  feet,  and  by  the  dim  light  of  his 
candle  he  showed  me  the  sarcophagus  of  a  queen.  Her  em- 
balmed body  has  long  since  been  taken  from  its  resting-place  to 
some  museum.  In  this  utilitarian,  prying  age,  even  the  multi- 
plied millions  of  tons  of  rock,  as  in  this  Pyramid,  cannot  secure 
undisturbed  repose  to  the  bodies  of  the  greatest  of  earth,  or  hide 
from  the  gaze  of  the  curious  the  most  sacred  remains.  The  tombs 
of  the  kings  were  found  higher  up. 

After  threading  these  strange  and  well-constructed  chambers 
to  our  satisfaction,  I  turned  my  face  to  the  entrance.  When  I 
reached  it,  then  the  three  Arabs  set  up  a  plea  for  "backsheesh." 
After  I  had  paid  each  one  what  I  thought  was  right,  then  the  fel- 
low that  went  down  to  show  me  the  queen's  sarcophagus  wanted 
"backsheesh"  for  that.  Then  each  of  them  pulled  out  some 
■coins  with  verdegris  on  them,  and  they  wanted  to  sell  them  to 
me,  —  "something  to  remember  my  Arabs  by,  who  helped  me  in 
the  Pyramid,  when  I  got  back  to  America";  and  so  appeal  after 
appeal  was  made,  until  I  broke  away  from  all  but  one  of  them. 
He  stuck  to  me.     When  I  visited  the   Sphinx  he  persisted  in 


174  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

showing  me  all  about  it.  He  was  positively  annoying.  At  last 
I  told  him  if  he  was  after  "backsheesh"  he  would  get  no  more 
from  me,  and  to  clear  out.  I  shook  off  one,  only  to  make  place 
for  another.  They  would  pick  up  pieces  of  stone  and  offer  to  sell 
them  to  me.  At  last  I  told  the  most  persistent  one  to  take  it  to 
the  top  of  the  Pyramid  for  me,  and  lay  it  up  till  I  came  next 
time.  He  was  sharp  enough  to  see  the  joke,  and  dropped  his  rock, 
and  my  acquaintance,  at  the  same  time.  Another  crossed  my 
path  at  every  turn,  urging  me  to  take  a  ride  on  his  donkey.  At 
last  I  said  to  him,  "  You  take  him  and  eat  him."  —  "What !"  said 
he;  "  eat  a  donkey?"  —  "Yes;  eat  him  all  up.  I  don't  want  him." 
At  this  he  broke  out  into  a  big  laugh,  and  sought  another  cus- 
tomer. 

THE   SPHINX. 

When  I  visited  the  Sphinx,  I  was  disappointed  at  first.  It  did 
not  look  as  large  as  I  expected.  But  the  two  Pyramids  in  whose 
shadow  it  stands  were  so  large  that  they  dwarfed  everything  around 
them.  The  more  I  looked  at  the  Sphinx,  the  more  I  admired  its 
symmetry  and  proportions.  It  is  indeed  a  wonderful  piece  of 
sculpture.  Near  it  is  the  Temple  of  the  Sphinx.  For  ages  the 
sands  of  the  Nubian  Desert  had  covered  it  from  sight  and  from  the 
memory  of  man.  Now  a  large  portion  of  it  has  been  uncovered. 
It  is  built  upon  the  same  large  scale  as  the  Sphinx  and  the  Pyra- 
mids. I  was  struck  with  the  great  size  of  the  stones  laid  up  in 
the  walls.  Some  were  ten  and  twelve  feet  long  and  six  in  width. 
How  thick  they  were,  I  had  no  means  of  ascertaining. 

The  wealth,  labor,  and  skill  expended  on  these  idolatrous  tem- 
ples ought  to  shame  us,  who  claim  to  be  worshipers  of  the  one 
true  God,  who  made  heaven  and  earth  and  all  things  therein. 
Not  that  we  are  to  rival  them  in  the  construction  of  temples,  but 
in  the  expenditure  of  effort  to  spread  the  knowledge  of  the  truth 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

We  next  visited  the  Museum  at  Cairo,  containing  some  of  the 
rarest  treasures  of  the  archaeologist  to  be  found  anywhere.  The 
Pyramids  and  the  graves  of  the  great  of  bygone  ages  have  been 
rifled  of  their  mummied  treasures.  Nothing  has  been  too  sacred 
for  sacrilegious  hands.  Kings  with  their  golden  crowns,  queens 
with  their  ornaments  of  rubies,  pearls,  and  other  rare  and  costly 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  175 

gems,  have  had  their  sarcophagi,  sealed  for  ages,  Itroken  open, 
and  bodies  and  ornaments  rudely  dragged  to  the  light,  taken 
away  from  their  long  rest,  to  be  exposed  to  the  gaze  of  people 
from  every  clime. 

A  strange  feeling  passed  over  me  as  I  looked  down  into  the 
black  and  lifeless  face  of  Rameses  II,  the  Pharaoh  who  knew  not 
Joseph,  and  who  oppressed  Israel  and  made  them  serve  with 
rigor;  who,  to  accomplish  his  mad  purpose,  "  cast  out  their  young 
children,  to  the  intent  that  they  might  not  live."  It  was  his 
daughter  who  rescued  Moses  and  brought  him  up  as  her  own  son. 
Doubtless  he  had  often  sat  with  the  Hebrew  child  upon  his  knee, 
and  taught  him  the  ways  of  the  Egyptians.  Here  I  stood  above 
his  swathed  and  shriveled  form,  now  powerless  for  harm.  His 
name  is  remembered  as  an  oppressor,  while  the  boy  rescued  from 
death  by  his  daughter  had  become  one  of  the  greatest,  if  not  the 
greatest  man  of  any  age  or  people. 

Near  Rameses  II  lay  Seti,  his  father,  and  others  of  this  illus- 
trious house.  Long  ago  the  scepter  departed  from  this  family, 
and  not  from  this  only,  but,  according  to  the  prediction  of  Ezekiel, 
not  another  one  of  their  own  people  has  reigned,  or  shall  ever 
reign  in  Egypt;  "and  there  shall  be  no  more  a  prince  of  the  land 
of  Egypt." 

MEMPHIS. 

We  took  a  steam-launch  and  sailed  up  the  Nile  for  some  twenty- 
five  miles,  when  we  took  donkeys  and  rode  out  to  the  site  of 
Memphis,  which,  at  one  time,  was  one  of  the  greatest  cities  of 
Egypt.  To  say  that  it  is  now  in  ruins  would  hardly  be  correct, 
for  it  is  not,  and  as  you  ride  amid  the  sand-dunes,  unless  told, 
you  would  never  know  that  you  were  where  once  throbbed  the 
arteries  of  a  great  city. 

Our  ride  of  perhaps  twenty  miles  was  my  first  experience  on  a 
donkey.  Each  donkey  had  an  Arab  attachment.  He  kept  up 
with  his  donkey,  no  matter  what  his  speed.  Each  one  had  a 
name.  Mine  was  called  "  McKinley,"  and  he  proved  himself  a  good 
one,  for  he  outstripped  all  the  rest,  and  got  first  to  our  destina- 
tion. I  was  surprised  to  see  with  what  ease  the  Arab  kept  up 
with  him.  All  the  while  he  kept  up  a  running  conversation,  in 
broken  P]nglish,  with  me.     The  first  object  of  interest  on  the  site 


176  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

of  old  Memphis  was  a  granite  statue  of  Rameses  II,  forty-seven 
feet  in  height.  It  was  lying  on  its  back,  with  one  of  the  legs 
broken  off.  With  this  exception,  it  is  perfect.  A  masterly  piece 
of  workmanship  it  is,  too.  The  features  are  perfect,  and  are  very 
expressive.  There  was  still  another  of  the  same  king  (for  he  was 
perhaps  the  mightiest  monarch  that  ever  reigned  in  Egypt.  His 
was  a  very  long  reign,  extending  over  sixty  years),  but  it  was 
surrounded  by  the  flood-waters  of  the  Nile,  and  we  could  not 
reach  it. 

TOMBS   OF  THE   KINGS   AND   SACRED  BULLS. 

We  rode  some  miles  farther,  and  reached  the  tomb  of  Mena, 
one  of  the  kings.  It  was  built  of  stone,  and  all  the  walls  were 
literally  covered  with  figures  carved  in  the  stone.  The  workman- 
ship was  of  a  superior  character.  The  surface  of  the  figures  was 
as  smooth  as  if  they  had  just  been  chiseled.  Many  of  them  were 
colored,  the  color  as  distinct  and  clear  as  if  just  laid  on.  I  sup- 
pose the  whole  was  a  history  of  the  king  who  had  it  built.  There 
were  thirty-one  different  rooms  to  this  sepulcher.  The  walls 
were  ten  or  twelve  feet  in  height,  and  every  foot  of  the  surface 
was  covered  with  this  scenic  writing.  Some  were  battle-scenes, 
some  hunting,  some  rural,  some  sacrificial.  No  two  of  them 
seemed  to  be  alike. 

We  next  visited  the  Serapeum,  or  tombs  of  the  sacred  bulls. 
The  bull  was  the  principal  idol  of  the  Egyptians.  When  one 
died,  he  was  embalmed  and  buried  with  great  pomp,  and  the 
whole  land  went  into  mourning  until  another  was  found.  He 
must  be  a  red  bull  with  a  crescent  in  his  forehead,  and  some  re- 
semblance of  a  flying  eagle  on  his  back.  When  found,  he  was 
led  in  triumph  to  his  temple,  and  the  whole  nation  rejoiced.  It 
has  been  only  a  few  years  since  this  sepulcher  of  the  sacred  bulls 
was  found.  There  is  an  archway  of  stone  eighteen  hundred  feet 
long,  with  twenty-four  sarcophagi  on  each  side.  Each  sarcopha- 
gus is  made  of  solid  granite,  some  red  and  others  black  granite, 
all  polished  in  the  highest  style.  They  are  all  the  same  size, — 
thirteen  feet  long,  eight  feet  wide,  and  twelve  feet  high.  The 
lower  part,  or  coffin  proper,  is  of  one  solid  piece  of  granite,  while 
the  lid  is  also  of  one  piece,  three  feet  thick. 

It  is  a  strange  fact  that  a  people  so  scientific  and  learned  as 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  177 

the  Egyptians,  —  a  people  who  were  thrown  in  contact,  through 
the  channels  of  commerce,  with  so  many  of  the  outside  world, — 
a  people  visited  by  the  learned  from  all  lands,  —  should  worship 
a  bull  from  the  common  herd,  especially  when  one  and  another 
of  these  should  die  as  the  cattle  that  graze  upon  the  plains  about 
them.  But  w^ien  any  people  turn  from  the  true  Light  that 
"  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world,"  they  "became 
vain  in  their  imaginations,  and  their  foolish  heart  was  darkened, 
.  .  .  and  changed  the  glory  of  the  uncorruptible  God  into  an  im- 
age made  like  to  corruptible  man,  and  to  birds,  and  four-footed 
beasts,  and  creeping  things." 

It  was  in  imitation  of  the  Egyptians  that  the  Israelites  made 
a  golden  calf  to  worship  while  Moses  was  upon  Mount  Sinai. 

In  this  same  neighborhood  are  the  tombs  of  Thi.  These  are 
constructed  very  much  after  the  order  of  those  of  Mena.  The 
walls  of  the  several  rooms  were  all  covered  with  figures,  illustra- 
tive of  the  lives  of  those  buried  in  them. 

The  surface  of  the  country  in  which  these  tombs  are  found  is 
the  most  desolate  and  forbidding  imaginable,  —  nothing  but  dry 
sand  drifted  into  dunes,  —  but  wherever  excavations  had  been 
made,  I  was  impressed  with  the  great  amount  of  broken  pottery 
that  strewed  the  sand  in  every  direction,  showing  that  this  was 
evidently  the  site  of  a  great  and  populous  city  for  ages.  And  it 
is  marvelous  that  such  a  city  should  be  actually  and  completply 
wiped  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

What  little  probability  was  there  of  its  fulfillment  when  Eze- 
kiel,  hundreds  of  years  before  Christ,  when  this  and  other  great 
cities  of  Egypt  were  in  their  glory,  told  of  their  utter  overthrow! 
Only  one  inspired  of  the  Spirit  of  omniscience  would  have  dared 
to  make  such  a  prediction.  And  yet  this  Jewish  captive  in  Chal- 
dea,  by  the  river  Chebar,  uttered  it  without  a  fear  of  its  failure. 

MOHAMMEDAX   U>:iVERSITY. 

On  one  of  our  visits  to  Old  Cairo  we  went  to  the  great  Moham- 
medan University,  where  were  gathered  twelve  thousand  students 
from  all  parts  of  the  Mohammedan  world.  Until  within  a  year 
or  two,  nothing  was  taught  in  this  university  but  the  Koran. 
Now  a  very  little  of  arithmetic  and  geography'  is  taught.     "When 


178  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

we  entered,  the  school  was  in  full  blast.  There  was  not  a  seat  or 
a  desk  in  the  whole  immense  building.  There  are  five  hundred 
professors  engaged  in  the  work  of  teaching.  The  twelve  thousand 
pupils  were  seated  about  in  groups  of  from  fifty  to  one  hundred, 
on  the  floor,  each  one  with  his  face  to  the  teacher,  who  sat  flat 
down,  as  they,  upon  a  little  movable  platform.  They  all  sat  as 
close  together  on  the  floor  as  possible.  Most  of  them  had  a  few 
leaves  of  the  Koran  in  their  hands,  and  every  one  was  repeating 
his  lesson  out  loud,  while  the  professor's  voice  could  be  heard 
above  the  din.  They  rattled  right  along,  neither  teacher  nor 
pupil  paying  any  attention  to  us  or  our  presence.  They  all  had 
a  sing-song  tone.  Some  of  the  little  fellows  —  for  there  were  boys 
not  more  than  ten  years  old  among  them  —  had  sheets  of  tin, 
upon  which  they  were  learning  to  make  figures,  and  to  write. 
Most  of  them,  as  they  sung  their  lessons,  swayed  their  bodies 
from  side  to  side  in  a  sort  of  rhythmic  motion.  This,  I  am 
informed,  is  the  only  school  of  importance  in  the  whole 
Turkish  Empire,  while  in  Constantinople,  the  capital  and  the 
home  of  the  Sultan,  there  are  five  foreign  post-office  depart- 
ments. I  asked  how  it  was,  and  was  told  that  the  Turks  had  no 
post-office  department  until  about  thirty-five  years  ago.  Hardly 
anybody  in  the  Turkish  dominions  could  read,  and  fewer  still 
could  write,  and  they  had  no  need  of  a  post-office.  There  were 
so  many  foreigners  in  Constantinople,  that  each  nation  organized 
a  department  of  its  own.  After  a  while  the  Turks  organized  one, 
but  the  foreigners  found  their  own  so  convenient,  that  they  re- 
fused to  give  them  up. 

This  Cairo  school  is  dignified  with  the  title  of  university,  but 
few  of  either  the  twelve  thousand  pupils  or  the  five  hundred  pro- 
fessors can  write,  or  know  anything  of  the  simplest  rules  of  arith- 
metic, and  less  of  geography.  The  English,  who  are  trying  to 
crane  Egypt  up,  have  taken  hold  of  the  matter  of  education. 
Some  few  years  ago  they  called  upon  these  professors  to  take  an 
examination,  but  few  of  them  took  it.  Out  of  thirty-nine  teachers 
who  were  examined  in  the  very  simplest  characters  in  writing 
and  arithmetic,  only  five  satisfied  the  examiners  in  arithmetic, 
and  not  one  in  writing.  And  as  it  is  here  in  Egypt,  so  is  it  all 
over  the  Sultan's  dominions.  Superstition,  ignorance,  and  fanati- 
cism are  the  foundation-stones  on  which  this  government  rests. 


My  Trip  to  thio  Orient.  179 

With  them,  the  Koran  is  all  they  want.  They  have  the  same 
spirit  that  actuated  Omar,  who  burned  the  Alexandrian  Library, 

one  of  the  greatest  collections  of  books  that,  up  to  that  time, 

the  world  had  ever  seen.  He  said,  "If  this  library  is  in  accord- 
ance with  the  teachings  of  the  Koran,  there  is  no  need  for  it;  if 
contrary  to  the  Koran,  then  it  ought  to  be  destroyed."  The  fires 
were  kindled,  and  for  seven  days  the  holocaust  went  on.  Under 
the  hands  of  these  ignorant  fanatics,  the  choicest  recorded  litera- 
ture of  the  ages  went  up  in  smoke.  Nor  did  they  pause  in  their 
fiendish  work  until  the  last  of  this  world-renowned  collection  was 
destroyed,  and  from  that  day  the  Koran  has  lain  upon  the  nation, 
crushing  out  all  that  makes  a  people  great,  prosperous,  and  happy. 
For  nearly  one  month  have  I  been  traveling  through  this  vast 
empire,  reaching  from  Constantinople,  through  Syria,  Palestine, 
and  Egypt,  and  I  have  seen  nothing  to  admire  in  them  as  a 
people. 

HELIOPOLIS. 

While  in  Cairo,  we  drove  out  to  the  site  of  Heliopolis,  or  On  of 
the  Scriptures.  The  most  ancient  obelisk  of  Egypt  alone  marks 
the  spot  where  once  stood  populous  On,  the  capital  of  Egypt. 
This  obelisk  was  chiseled  of  one  stone,  2433  B.  C.  It  is  a  mag- 
nificent monolith,  every  figure  on  its  four  sides  remaining  as  dis- 
tinct as  if  just  cut. 

Here  the  Pharaoh  who  had  his  twofold  dream  of  the  seven 
years  of  plenty  and  seven  years  of  famine  had  his  palace  and  his 
home.  It  was  the  daughter  of  the  priest,  or  prince,  of  On  that 
was  given  to  Joseph  when  Pharaoh  made  him  ruler  over  all 
Egypt.  Here,  in  after  years,  Moses,  as  the  son  of  Pharaoh's 
daughter,  was  educated,  and  fitted  to  be  the  teacher  of  God's 
people. 

It  was  once  the  seat  of  learning.  Plato  spent  thirteen  years 
here,  increasing  his  fund  of  knowledge  and  wisdom.  Here,  Hero- 
dotus, the  "  Father  of  History,"  lived  for  a  number  of  years, 
gathering  material  for  his  great  work. 

While  God  communicates  that  to  man  which  he  cannot  know 
of  himself,  yet  he  uses  all  that  is  in  man  for  his  purpose.  It  is 
said  of  Moses,  "that  he  was  learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the 
Egyptians."     He  had  been  brought  up  among  the  rulers  and  the 


180  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

great  men  of  the  land,  and  was  thns  eminentl}'  fitted  to  be  a 
leader  and  a  law-giver. 

Where  populous  On  once  stood,  there  is  now  not  a  house,  nor  a 
vestige  of  ruins  even,  but  the  rich  plain  has  been  smoothed  down 
and  has  been  under  cultivation  for  centuries. 

Not  far  from  the  obelisk,  that  alone  marks  the  site  of  the  great 
city,  we  were  shown  a  large  sycamore  tree,  called  the  "Tree  of 
the  Virgin  Mary."  Under  it,  it  is  said,  she  rested  when  she  came 
into  Egypt  to  escape  the  wrath  of  Herod,  who  sought  her  young 
child's  life.  I  have  no  sort  of  confidence  in  any  such  traditions, 
and  look  upon  the  whole  thing  as  a  sort  of  idolatry. 

This  sycamore  is  of  the  fig-bearing  variety.  Amos  was  a 
"  gatherer  of  sycamore  fruit."  The  figs  grow  in  great  clusters  on 
the  body  of  the  large  branches.  They  were  not  ripe  at  the  time, 
but  are  said  to  be  a  very  inferior  fruit,  eaten  only  by  the  poorer 
classes. 

While  in  Palestine  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  a  carob  tree, 
and  the  fruit.  The  fruit  is  a  thick,  dark-colored  bean,  and  is  the 
"  husks  that  the  swine  did  eat,"  spoken  of  in  the  parable  of  the 
prodigal  son.  And,  while  I  think  of  it,  I  rode  on  horseback  over 
much  of  Palestine  and  visited  many  places  of  Egypt,  and  I  never 
saw  a  single  hog.  The  "steep  place"  where  the  two  thousand 
ran  down  into  the  Sea  of  Galilee  was  pointed  out  to  me,  but  no 
swine  did  I  see  feeding  on  the  hills.  There  may  have  been  hogs 
there,  but  I  did  not  see  them. 

While  in  Cairo  I  heard  a  band  playing,  and  looking  out  of  my 
window,  I  saw  a  fine  carriage  preceded  by  the  band.  The  driver 
of  the  carriage  was  more  gorgeously  dressed  than  any  man  I  saw 
in  Egypt.  The  predominant  color  of  his  dress  was  a  deep  red, 
covered  in  every  available  place  with  wide  gold  lace.  On  the 
rear  of  the  carriage  stood  a  footman,  also  dressed  most  elaborately 
in  red  and  gold.  On  each  side  of  the  carriage  walked  a  servant. 
The  curtains  of  this  carriage  were  closely  drawn.  It  was  followed 
by  three  other  carriages,  by  each  of  which  walked  two  footmen. 
I  thought  some  royal  person  was  passing.  But  when  I  made 
inquiry,  I  found  that  one  of  the  leading  men,  who  had  three 
wives,  had  shown  to  those  in  authority  that  he  was  able  to  sup- 
port another  wife,  and  this  first  carriage  contained  his  bride  of 
the  fourth  edition.     The  other  carriages  contained  his  other  wives. 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  181 


ALEXANDRIA. 

Our  stay  in  Egypt  was  a  most  delightful  one,  and  we  enjoyed 
it  greatly;  but  the  time  had  come  when  we  must  turn  our  faces 
to  our  Western  home.  A  run  of  a  few  hours  by  rail  brought  us 
to  Alexandria.  We  stayed  in  this  ancient  city  but  a  short  time. 
During  that  time,  however,  we  visited  Pompey's  Pillar,  saw  the 
site  of  the  ancient  Pharos,  one  of  the  Seven  Wonders  of  the  World, 
and  had  shown  to  us  where  the  celebrated  Alexandrian  Library 
was  burned.  It  was  in  Alexandria  that  the  Septuagint  version  of 
the  Old  Testament  was  made,  —  the  version  from  which  our 
Lord  made  his  quotations.  No  doubt  but  that  the  translators 
came  here  to  do  their  work  because  of  the  great  library  in 
this  city.  If  this  be  so,  it  bespeaks  the  value  of  this  great 
collection.  Recorded  facts  and  important  information  may  have 
been  lost  in  the  destruction  of  this  library.  Questions  that  have 
for  centuries  puzzled  the  world  may  have  been  answered  in 
some  of  these  volumes;  such  as,  how  the  great  stones  that  com- 
pose the  Pyramids,  and  how  the  immense  columns  with  their 
architraves  of  ruined  temples,  were  lifted  to  their  places;  how 
elastic  and  malleable  glass  were  made;  by  what  process  the  royal 
purple  was  manufactured;  and  many  others. 

NAPLES. 

Taking  a  steamer  at  Alexandria,  we  sped  on  toward  Naples. 
In  passing  the  island  of  Sicily  we  had  a  fine  view  of  Mount  Etna. 
Neither  flame  nor  smoke  issued  from  the  crater.  A  crown  of 
snow  lay  on  its  brow.  It  was  Sunday  as  we  passed  the  Strait  of 
Messina,  between  Sicily  and  the  mainland,  and  just  before  we 
passed  Scylla  and  Charybdis,  one  on  the  one  side  and  the  other 
on  the  other,  we  held  service  in  the  dining-room  of  the  ship. 
When  we  reached  Naples  we  visited  the  Museum.  One  object 
seen  there  deeply  interested  me. 

IMAGE   OF   DIANA. 

After  the  uproar  raised  at  Ephesus  by  Demetrius,  who  accused 
Paul  of  not  only  endangering  their  craft,  but  also  threatened  the 


1S2  My  Trip  to  the  Orient. 

very  destruction  "of  the  great  goddess  Diana,"  ''whom  all  Asia 
and  the  world  worshipeth,"  the  town  clerk,  in  appeasing  the 
people,  said,  "  Ye  men  of  Ephesus,  what  man  is  there  that 
knoweth  not  how  that  the  city  of  the  Ephesians  is  a  worshiper  of 
the  great  goddess  Diana,  and  of  the  image  which  fell  down  from 
Jupiter?"  Recently  this  identical  image  has  been  dug  up  from 
the  ruins  of  the  temple  of  Diana  at  Ephesus,  and  it  is  here  in  the 
Museum  at  Naples.  This  image  I  saw.  It  is  made  of  white 
marble,  and  is  as  perfect  as  the  day  it  was  chiseled.  Even  the 
lions  on  her  arms  are  unbroken.  The  face  of  the  image  is  as 
beautiful  as  a  woman's,  the  mural  crown  upon  the  head  setting 
off  the  features. 

There  were  very  many  other  things  in  this  Museum  worthy  of 
note;  but  we  cannot  mention  them  now. 

November  21,  1901,  we  took  ship  for  New  York.  Besides  the 
iirst-class  passengers,  we  had  five  hundred  Italian  emigrants  in 
the  steerage,  and  the  captain  told  me  there  is  an  average  of  a 
ship-load  every  day  going  to  New  York. 

The  second  day  out,  a  two-year-old  babe  died,  and  the  next 
night,  at  four,  A.  M.,  the  great  ship  stopped  in  mid-ocean,  and  the 
little  body  was  committed  to  the  deep. 

HOME. 

In  four  months  and  one  day  from  the  day  I  left  San  Francisco, 
God,  in  his  good  providence,  brought  me  back  again,  having  pre- 
served me  amid  the  20,776  miles  of  travel  by  land  and  by  sea. 
For  all  of  which  I  am  devoutly  thankful. 

Of  all  the  lands  I  have  seen,  there  are  none  to  compare  with 
America,  and  in  America,  none  to  compare  with  California. 

The  day  before  we  reached  New  York,  one  of  our  fellow-pas- 
sengers took  from  his  pocket  an  envelope  and  wrote  on  it  the 
following:  — 

"  I  've  traveled  about  the  whole  world  everywhere; 
From  the  isles  of  the  south  to  the  north  polar  bear  ; 
I  've  camped  with  the  Arabs ; 
I  've  dwelt  with  the  Boers ; 

I  've  slept  in  the  tents  of  Morocco-bound  Moors  ; 
I  've  lived  with  the  Dago,  the  Greek,  and  the  Turk, 
Too  dirty  to  live,  and  too  lazy  to  work ; 


My  Trip  to  the  Orient.  183 

I  've  sized  up  the  Russian,  the  Frenchman,  the  Jap: 

But  there  's  only  one  land,  after  all,  on  the  map. 

Low  land,  high  land. 

Ocean,  or  river,  or  dry  land. 

There  's  no  other  equal  to  my  land  ; 

There  's  only  one  country  for  me ; 

'T  is  a  gem  any  nation  might  covet ; 

'T  is  the  land  of  my  birth,  and  I  love  it. 

For  the  Stars  and  the  Stripes  float  above  it,  — 

Hats  off  to  the  Laud  of  the  Free !  " 


List  of  Miscellaneous  Publications 

...OF... 

The  Whitaker  &  Ray  Company 

San  Francisco 

Complete  Descriptive  Circular  sent  on  application 

Postpaid  Prices 

Adventures  of  a  Tenderfoot— H.  H.  Sauber |1  00 

About  Dante — Mrs.  Frances  Sanborn      -------  100 

Among  the  Redwoods— Poems— Lillian  H.  Shuey        .        -        -        -  25 

Beyond  the  Gates  of  Care— Herbert  Bashford   -----  1  00 

Backsheesh— Book  of  Travels— Mrs.  William  Beckman      -       -       -  1  50 

California  and  the  CaUfornians— David  Starr  Jordan     -       -       -  25 

Care  and  Culture  of  Men— David  Starr  Jordan 150 

Chants  for  the  Boer— Joaquin  Miller     -------  2-5 

Complete  Poetical  "Works  of  Joaquin  Miller     -----  2  50 

Crumbs  of  Comfort— AllieM.  Felker             - 100 

California's  Transition  Feriod—S.  H.Willey       -        -        -        -       -100 

Doctor  Jones'  Picnic— S.  E.  Chapman ~-J 

Delphine  and  Other  Poems— L.  Adda  Nichols 1  00 

Educational  Questions— W.  C.  Doub    - 1  00 

Forty-Nine— Son^-Lelia  France 10 

Forjet-Me-Nots- Lillian  L.  Page 50 

Guide  to  Mexico— Christobal  Hidalgo        -------  50 

Hail  California— Song— Josephine  Gro 10 

History  of  Howard  Presbyterian  Church— S.  H.  Willey         -       -  1  00 

Life— Book  of  Essays— John  R.  Rogers 1  00 

Love  and  Law— Th.xs.  P.  Bailey 25 

Lyrics  of  the  Golden  West— W.  D.  Crab:>          ....       -  1  00 

Main  Points— Rev.  Chas-  R.  Brown      --------  1  25 

Man  Who  Might  Have  Been— Rev.  Robt.  Whitaker         -        -        -  25 

Matka  and  Kotik— David  Starr  Jordan     -       -       -        -       -        -        -  1  50 

Modern  Argonaut— L.  B.  Davis      -       - 1  01) 

Missions  of  Neuva  California— Chas.  F.  Carter    -       -        -        -        -  1  50 

Paniora— Mrs.  Salzscheider 100 

Percy,  or  the  Four  Inseparables— M.  Lee 1  00 

Personal  Impressions  of  Colorado  Grand  Canyon      -        -       -  1  00 

Ruiyard  Reviewed— W.J.  Peddicord -       -100 

Seven  Ages  of  Creation         ---------  2  50 

Some  Homely  Little  Songs— A.J.  Waierhouse 125 

Songs  of  the  Soul— Joaquin  Miller 1  00 

Story  of  the  Innumerable  Company— David  Starr  Jordan        -        -  1  25 

Sugar  Pine  Murmurings— Eliz.  S.  Wilson   ------  1  00 

Training  School  for  Nurses— A.  Ma'.ie          -----  i^.   -  50 

Without  a  Name— Poems— Edward  Elackman  -----  1  00 

Wolves  of  the  Sea— Poems— Herbert  B:ishf,,i(l 1  OO 


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